Special Reports & Tweets - 20130909_SpecialReport-3_Alex
Aired: 2013-09-09
Duration: 03:41


=== Government-Granted Journalist Protection (03:05) ===

[00:00:00]  A Senate committee passed the media shield law this week that essentially allows the
[00:00:10]  government to determine who is a real journalist for the purposes of protection.
[00:00:17]  Based on the bill, a real journalist is someone who works or worked for an entity or service that shares news or information by means of a newspaper, wire service, a news agency or via a magazine or through television or radio broadcast.
[00:00:32]  These people would have to have the primary intent to investigate events and procure material in order to share that information with the public.
[00:00:41]  Opinion journalists might not be covered.
[00:00:43]  Senator Feinstein worried the S.H.I.E.L.D.
[00:00:45]  law would provide special privileges to those who are not reporters at all, saying those who don't receive a salary couldn't be considered real reporters.
[00:00:54]  Now the S.H.I.E.L.D.
[00:00:54]  law is very careful to distinguish real journalists from those who shouldn't be protected.
[00:00:59]  This means bloggers and citizen journalists, unless they can prove to the government that at the inception of their information gathering process, their sole intent was to inform the public.
[00:01:10]  The bill explicitly excludes protection for those whose principal function is to publish primary source documents that haven't been authorized.
[00:01:17]  This means no WikiLeaks cables, no NSA leaks, just a rampant, unchecked government.
[00:01:23]  This is in direct violation of the Constitution, which prohibits the making of any law abridging the freedom of speech or infringing on the freedom of the press.
[00:01:32]  Doesn't the S.H.I.E.L.D.
[00:01:33]  law actually abridge the freedom of speech of citizen journalists by intimidating them with the threat of prosecution?
[00:01:40]  And the S.H.I.E.L.D.
[00:01:41]  law also says they're going to protect real journalists from having to reveal their sources.
[00:01:46]  So I guess the Fifth Amendment is only there to protect IRS officials who have committed criminal acts and perjury?
[00:01:52]  What is actually happening here is the government is trying to take a fundamental right and turn it into a government-granted privilege.
[00:02:01]  A privilege that can be revoked by them for any reason that they deem necessary in the future.
[00:02:06]  They created the S.H.I.E.L.D.
[00:02:07]  law to protect journalists, but only the journalists that they decide are worthy of protection.
[00:02:13]  The S.H.I.E.L.D.
[00:02:13]  law actually bypasses the First and Fifth Amendment by giving a virtual driver's license to those the government deems worthy of free speech.
[00:02:21]  Basically, this shield law only protects the corporate media, and not citizen journalists who aren't willing to regurgitate the same government-vetted stories.
[00:02:31]  It's not protection at all, but prior constraint.
[00:02:34]  And even if you are a real journalist, like Michael Hastings, if you get a little too controversial, you'll be investigated by the FBI.
[00:02:42]  So why is the Obama administration so vigorously attacking the alternative press?
[00:02:48]  It's because the mainstream media is dead.

=== Lapdog Journalists Protection (00:50) ===

[00:02:51]  The authentic media is winning the war for the minds of the people.
[00:02:55]  That's why the Obama administration is protecting its lapdog journalists while instilling fear in those that might dare ask questions.
[00:03:02]  Obama's hired even more journalists to be a part of his team.
[00:03:06]  Up to 19 journalists from influential outlets like ABC, CNN, The Washington Times and LA Times are going to work for the very administration they should be holding accountable.
[00:03:17]  So don't expect any of those journalists to report on their bosses' debacles like Obamacare or the illegal NSA spying and wiretapping or Benghazi.
[00:03:27]  Maybe Obama needed more journalists on his Transforming America team for the big rollout of government-funded news after the recent repeal of the domestic propaganda ban.
[00:03:38]  Those journalists can now use their talent to influence public opinion.