Read "Obama's War on Journalism," by Nick Gillespie
I've got a piece in The Daily Beast called "Obama's War on Journalism," which attacks the president and his administration for their concerted efforts to shut down investigative journalism in the name of "national security." And takes issue the president's support for a "media shield law" which would consolidate even more power in the government's hand:
It's easy to understand why he would be bothered by unwanted leaks in his administration. But his problem is the press's gain. By definition, any media shield law is predicated upon the government defining just who counts as a "journalist" and is thus worthy of protection – and who doesn't count and is thus subject to prosecution.
Thanks, President Obama, but we don't need no stinking press badges, especially in an age where all sorts of decentralized reporting and unconventional news gathering come online faster than the next second-term scandal. The First Amendment is all the shield law any American needs, especially when it's supplemented by the protections offered by the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. What we really need is a president who lives by the Constitution more than he nods to it.
