(A transcript of today's "Cup O' Joe Report" blogcast)
You would think that a story about the United States Attorney General saying, on national television even, that he believes there is a precedent for putting journalists in jail who print stories about governmental lies and crimes, would get a huge amount of coverage. But it goes to show how low we've sunk that you haven't heard a peep out of any major news outlet about this astonishing statement from an official who has the power to do exactly that.
We all know from past experience that "free speech" to the current administration and its corporate backers means you're only free to report the lies they tell you; reporting the truth, that is, the illegal activities of this government, and who benefits from them, is forbidden. It used to be that they would only threaten journalist's careers, now they're threatening them with jail time. All for telling people that their government is run by crooks and liars backed up by even bigger crooks and liars. So their behavior, while reprehensible, is at least understandable.
But no true journalist with any amount of self-respect should be willing to go along with this game. They have a serious responsibility to the public to keep us informed, and all too many have been neglecting it. And the reason, to this observer, is apparent: big name reporters make a lot of money for saying the right things, saying the wrong things could make you wind up, well, like me: broke and concerned about the future. If it were up to me, these people wouldn't be jailed, they'd be booted out of the professional journalism business. But then again, some of them never were in it in the first place.
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