Cross-posted at Docudharma and Firedoglake
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THIS AFFECTS ALL BLOGGERS/CITIZEN JOURNALISTS
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Thanks to Kos himself, and to kossack WilliamKWolfrom, and AMERICAblogger John Aravosis, I am now aware of Senators Durbin and Feinstein's efforts to deny citizens who do citizen journalism the benefits of the same shield law which protects professional journalists.
This is certainly interesting news.
Click the above links for the particulars.
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Senators Durbin and Feinstein are going out of their way to tack on an amendment which cuts you, the blogger, out of the shield law.
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Now, I don't know much about DiFi. I don't pay to much attention to her, so she's not often on my radar screen.
But Dick Durbin is another matter.
I live in Illinois.
Dick Durbin seems to be thought of as a liberal-progressive kind of guy.
So why in hell would he want to strike out citizen journalism from the same shield protections that professional journalists receive?
Anyone have any clues?
This is definitely on my radar screen.
I don't mind blogging about Dick Durbin a bit. In fact, I've pushed back as hard as I can on him against these foreign deployments which are killing our troops and making defense contractors as happy as pigs in slop. I've exchanged alot of mail with his Policy Director, Tom Faletti (202 224-2152), and talked with him in person in the Hart Senate Office Building and on the phone. And, I've blogged five or six times, live from the front porch of Durbin's office in Springfield, Illinois. Here's the most recent occasion. Scroll down to the bottom of the diary for the particulars of the live blog location.
Is Senator Durbin scared of something?
I am not terrifically up to speed with shield law issues. I'm sure there are others around here who are better versed on these things than am I.
Does anyone want to weigh in on this topic?
I'd be delighted to hear others' take.
As far as I can tell, the only power I have with the government consists of my freedoms of speech, press and assembly. Why would U.S. senators want to do anything other than promote the same?
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Shut up, will you! Shut up!
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UPDATE: Since posting this diary, I've emailed Sen Durbin's Policy Director - Tom Faletti - asking him the following,
Tom -
Please explain to me what reasoning and wisdom are going into your desire to cut citizen journalists/bloggers out of the shield law?
http://www.americablog.com/...
Please reply promptly. I don't need a monograph on the subject - just enough sentences to fully explain the rationale.
Thanks!
And, I did receive a very prompt response, which says, in its entirety,
you can send an email to Senator Durbin through the contact form on our website, durbin.senate.gov, and you will receive a response.
Well, if he could send me a lightning fast reply, which tells me to go through the senate website (which takes forever), you'd think he could've easily given me a few words to answer my questions.
Hmm.
