Journalism and the Erosion of our Rights
Thomas Hawk posted an update on Carlos Miller that links to this Category305 article. The update is interesting, but this should chill you right to the bone. Right. to. the. bone.
Last week, Miller received a call from Miami Police Internal Affairs, saying they’d been trying to track him down for two weeks, after someone who saw an account of his arrest sent it to Homeland Security, in an apparent attempt to label him a national security threat of some kind. The feds forwarded the message to Miami PD, but they told Miller they couldn’t get ahold of the blogger who sent it.
Now, the reason that this should chill you is because the hammer of Homeland Security is being wielded against citizens of our own country in an effort to quash free speech.
If this is allowed to stand, it will give free reign to those who have no respect for our Constitution (including those at the top of the governmental food chain) to escape accountability and effectively turn us into a police state.
I received a comment on my Carlos Miller post yesterday essentially making a lot of anonymous claims that Miller wasn’t a “real journalist” and that if he were, he would have known that he shouldn’t have photographed police officers. Commenter “experienced” wrote the following:
More and more web folks who think they can claim they are working
journalists will soon learn the lessons Carlos has. To do the job,
get pics and not get arrested, takes experience. Not just some weak
claim of “I’m a journalist, don’t arrest me”.
My response was predictable — one look at Miller’s resume blows the anonymous commenter’s argument out of the water. I will also note that the IP address of the comment tracked back to a major media outlet. Could it be that some folks within mainstream media are feeling a bit threatened? Of course, there’s also the possibility of a spoofed IP too, so I don’t put a ton of weight on the IP, but still…
Carlos Miller isn’t alone. Josh Wolf is rotting in a California prison and has been for six months because he won’t be bullied by the prosecutors and police who claim that by not turning over his tapes to the court, he is obstructing justice. Nonsense. Whether you think Josh Wolf is or is not a true “journalist”, he should have the right to due process of law and a fair hearing of the facts which landed him there, neither of which has occurred. An attempt at mediation failed last week, and there is no re-attempt scheduled at this time.
Wolf has some powerful words, words we should all consider carefully, when looking at situations like Carlos Miller’s and others, including those fired US Attorneys who wouldn’t bend to political pressure.
On the erosion of our rights:
One night I went to sleep in a free America, but I woke up in a police state. It’s hard to say when this transformation transpired; many would contend that it began shortly after September 11th, some would argue that it wasn’t until lies led us into the War in Iraq, and still others would say we started down this road soon after the American Revolution. I’m not sure who is right, but I do know that the process of waking up to this grim reality has been a painful one.
And on the media, journalism, and ‘web folks’:
The face of the media is changing. This we know for sure. But what remains to be seen is the role professional journalists take in developing this new landscape. Will the battle lines be drawn with two classes of warring voices or will we work together in solidarity to develop a massive chorus as diverse and eclectic as our society itself? As journalists is our commitment to an economic system or is it to the pursuit of the free flow of information? The power is in your hands. Choose wisely.
It’s all fine and good to talk about user-generated content, but we now have newspapers firing their professional reporters in exchange for user-generated reporting. Yet, these same users are at risk, because they will not be protected (as Josh Wolf has discovered) like they would if they were considered “professionals”. Further, we are ALL at risk because of the unbridled power that has been granted to law enforcers at the expense of our civil rights. When citizens cannot exercise their rights without fear of being labeled a terrorist and a threat to national security, we are all at risk.
(crossposted to my personal blog)
Technorati Tags: user-generated content, Josh Wolf, Carlos Miller, journalism, mainstream media