First Amendment missionaries
"Josh Wolf is 24 years old. He doesn’t work for the NBC News or the New York Times or any other deep-pocketed, highly recognizable corporate entity that society would automatically accept as a legitimate news-gathering organization. Katie Couric he’s not. Rather, he’s one of the critical foot soldiers in a vital army of news reporters out there in our midst trying to chronicle what’s going on in the world and scratch out a meager living with his work. In other words, Josh Wolf is a freelance journalist."
--Peter Laufer, Guerrilla News Network
The story of the recent college graduate who's now in federal prison--and might be there until next summer--demands our attention as we prepare for a new group of students in the fall semester. What will we tell them about "citizen journalism" and "freedom of the press" when our government is arresting individuals like Wolf for not turning over unedited video footage? How can we prevent them from docilely surrendering notes, source contact info or images to federal authorities? How can we work to preserve press freedom?
I've been thinking about Molly Ivins' urgent message, given at this year's AEJMC conference.
"We are all in deep doo-doo, as the man's daddy used to say," Ivins said. "What pisses me off is being part of an industry that's committing suicide."
Ivins urged journalism educators to become missionaries of the First Amendment.
"You are in a position to reach right into the nexus of that," she said. "We will have nothing left of freedom if the First goes."
The San Francisco Chronicle editorial regarding Wolf said it well: "But the really ominous element of the government's argument is the notion that a journalist can be compelled to turn over raw material -- be it notes or video outtakes -- at the government's whim. If that standard can apply to Josh Wolf, it can be used against CNN, NBC, Fox News or any independent journalist who is conducting an investigation or trying to record a chaotic event. Journalists are not agents of the government."
These days, our students are more likely than ever to encounter law enforcement agencies' requests for notes, photographs and video. When police demand notes from newspaper or TV reporters, young, less-than-confident reporters and their occasionally First Amendment illiterate employers may comply. In the face of job security, reporters avert their consciences and surrender their rights, even after spending a semester with Jake Highton or Warren Lerude. The dangerous precedent is set.
How can we instill courage?
--Peter Laufer, Guerrilla News Network
The story of the recent college graduate who's now in federal prison--and might be there until next summer--demands our attention as we prepare for a new group of students in the fall semester. What will we tell them about "citizen journalism" and "freedom of the press" when our government is arresting individuals like Wolf for not turning over unedited video footage? How can we prevent them from docilely surrendering notes, source contact info or images to federal authorities? How can we work to preserve press freedom?
I've been thinking about Molly Ivins' urgent message, given at this year's AEJMC conference.
"We are all in deep doo-doo, as the man's daddy used to say," Ivins said. "What pisses me off is being part of an industry that's committing suicide."
Ivins urged journalism educators to become missionaries of the First Amendment.
"You are in a position to reach right into the nexus of that," she said. "We will have nothing left of freedom if the First goes."
The San Francisco Chronicle editorial regarding Wolf said it well: "But the really ominous element of the government's argument is the notion that a journalist can be compelled to turn over raw material -- be it notes or video outtakes -- at the government's whim. If that standard can apply to Josh Wolf, it can be used against CNN, NBC, Fox News or any independent journalist who is conducting an investigation or trying to record a chaotic event. Journalists are not agents of the government."
These days, our students are more likely than ever to encounter law enforcement agencies' requests for notes, photographs and video. When police demand notes from newspaper or TV reporters, young, less-than-confident reporters and their occasionally First Amendment illiterate employers may comply. In the face of job security, reporters avert their consciences and surrender their rights, even after spending a semester with Jake Highton or Warren Lerude. The dangerous precedent is set.
How can we instill courage?
posted by Deidre at
7:13 AM
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