The Judge weighed in this morning after a leading Democrat raised questions about what defines a journalist nowadays.
Fox News Insider
5/28/2013
In light of the recent DOJ scandals involving the Associated Press and Fox News, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) raised questions about how a journalist should be defined in this day and age of blogs, Twitter and so many other social media platforms.
Judge Andrew Napolitano stopped by Fox and Friends this morning to give us his take on how far the First Amendment’s protection of journalists should go. He argued that even someone who is not a paid journalist, but is doing research in search of “the truth” about a certain subject should be able to protect sources just as a paid reporter is able to.
He explained that the First Amendment was written to “protect the pursuit of truth and the expression of opinion,” adding that it should not matter whether you get paid or are doing it on your own.
Watch the video at Fox News Insider.
Related: Report: Holder Went Judge Shopping to Obtain Fox News Subpoena
The New Yorker‘s Ryan Lizza, a bulldog on the DOJ/Fox News secret subpoena story, reports that the effort by the Justice Department to obtain the controversial court order was arduous, contentious and unsuccessful until finally a third judge acquiesced…
Also by Ryan Lizza, News Corp. vs. Fox News?
…“If I had seen it, I would remember having seen it, even though it was three years ago. The first thing I would have done is call Roger Ailes,” Jacobs said. “What possible motive would I have to sit on this? If the Justice Department really wanted to make sure Fox News was aware of it, why didn’t they send it to Fox News and why didn’t they follow up with the company they sent the fax to? I’m not calling them liars and I’m not saying they didn’t send it. I’m just saying I never saw it. I can’t believe I wouldn’t remember receiving a certified letter from the Justice Department.”
Privately, Jacobs and News Corp had heated conversations over the weekend in which the company’s former lawyer demanded that News Corp. clarify its position on the matter…
Breaking: House Judiciary Committee Will Investigate Eric Holder on Perjury Charges
Fox News vs. the Cult of Obama
It is impossible to understand the Obama administration’s uniquely hostile treatment of Fox News without understanding the self-image of the Obama team. On the one hand, the targeting of Fox News for isolation and surveillance suggests an administration so lacking in competence that it cannot tolerate criticism or scrutiny. On the other, the attacks suggest hubris, a confidence that few would ever object to its conduct…
…The heresy of Fox News is not just that it criticizes the Obama administration or that it provides a platform for conservative opinion, but that it rejects the attempt to place Obama beyond politics and accountability. It refuses, in other words, to endorse the idea that Obama inhabits a unique category, beyond the obvious (and, for most governing purposes, meaningless) historic fact that he is the nation’s first black president…
Holder felt ‘creeping sense of personal remorse’ after being caught in Fox surveillance
Instead of a sense of personal accountability, presumably.
Update: The Ailes Manifesto: America Rallies Around Roger Ailes and Fox News
Fox News CEO Roger Ailes’ May 23 stirring letter to Fox employees will be remembered as a turning point in the battle for freedom of the press in the age of Obama.
The Ailes letter, denouncing the Obama administration’s trampling on the First Amendment, should be seen, of course, as a strong defense of Fox correspondent James Rosen. In addition, the Ailes letter–in truth, a manifesto–is a staunch vindication of Fox News and its “speak-truth-to-power” approach to journalism. Finally, the Ailes Manifesto should be seen as a clarion call for freedom–for freedom of the press, and also for the right of all Americans to think freely, liberated from the MSM thought-monopoly…
Read the whole thing.
Update 2: Obama Uses 1917 Espionage Act to Go After Reporters by Michael Barone for Human Events.
First Amendment expert: Justice Department overstepped bounds in pursuit of journalist by Jake Tapper
James Rosen Criminal Leak Investigation Was Ordered Unsealed 18 Months Ago, But Obscured by Clerical Error
Update 3: If you have to ask, maybe you shouldn’t run for office, says DaTech Guy: A Simple rule for US Elections
