Thursday, June 14, 2007

The Fallacy of Special Interest, Priviliged, Groups - An Example

Special, priviliged, interest groups run rampant in America.  There are too many to enumerate, and their demands rain down on American individuals like bricks, crushing freedoms wantonly.

This morning, reading the Washington Post op-eds, I find the following op-ed, penned by Scott Gant, a lawyer, and author.

We’re All Privileged

Hmm, I think, what can the title of that op-ed delve into?  This.

Today the House Judiciary Committee will hold its first hearing on a potentially historic bill to protect journalists. What’s most remarkable about the legislation, however, is not what it does for journalists, but how it defines journalism.

The “Free Flow of Information Act of 2007” would enact a statutory “shield law” on the federal level protecting journalists from having to disclose certain information they would be forced to reveal were they ordinary citizens, such as the identity of a source or materials collected during newsgathering.

Don’t you just love the use of the term “ordinary citizens,” implying that Americans in actuality are divided into groups, and sub-groups, based upon laws enacted by professional jobholders, hooligans and meddlers?

I, in most cases, do not find myself having to protect myself from individuals, but rather, I must protect myself from groups, who employ the state as their strong arm man.

Gant ends his op-ed thusly.

Of course, shield laws are just one way the government bestows on those deemed “journalists” privileges unavailable to others. As journalism returns to its status as an activity rather than a profession, it is appropriate to rethink what it means, and consider carefully how non-traditional journalists should be treated compared to those who work for established news organizations. Although it remains to be seen how the Free Flow of Information Act of 2007 will fare in Congress, the sponsors of this bill rightly view journalism as an endeavor that belongs to all of us.

Gant is correct that journalism belongs to each and every individual, but, requiring a law to be enacted to state that this is so, as “protection,” is as outrageous fantasy as Micahel Keaton’s Batman character leaving the Batmobile on the street and calling “Shields” into a remote transmitter, as he hustles away to save the day.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/14 at 07:46 AM
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