Lately, my friend Robert Scoble has given me more plugs in his blog than I had in my old Schwinn Bike’s inner tube. But in Robert’s brilliant Corporate Manifesto , he advises against posting when depressed. For that reason, I have been less than prolific lately. Much of it has to do with the recent election. Hell, I'm not crying because Kerry lost. I didn't think much of him to begin with. It’s because George Bush won and that really scares me.
Much has occurred in a few short weeks to confirm my dark fears that the Bill of Rights is under assault—except maybe the gun control part. The First Amendment appears to me to be in the crosshairs of harm’s way. I love the flagship amendment's wording: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” I love its clarity. You’d think “no laws,” meant just that, but, it’s been a struggle to maintain its integrity since its inception, and now the dangers of losing all or part of it are mkost threatened.
Today in America—not the Ukraine or China—today, there are 12 reporters facing imprisonment for simply doing their jobs and refusing to rat out confidential sources. Two reporters have been sentenced, but remain free pending appeals. Jim Taricani , a TV reporter for WJAR TV in Providence, RI, faces up to six months in jail, after he was convicted Nov. 19 of criminal contempt. His crime: refusing to disclose who gave him a FBI videotape showing a city official taking a bribe.
If Taricani’s story scares me, the ongoing travails of Judith Miller, a New York Times reporter is downright chilling. She’s accused of writing nothing at all, but of having talked to a few people regarding the outing of Valerie Plame , the wife of former ambassador Joe Wilson , 2003, who was revealed to be a CIA operative by conservative columnist Bob Novak who-you guessed it—“cited confidential sources.” Her situation is uniquely Orwellian. “I’m facing jail for something I never wrote,” she has been quoted as saying. The government wants to her to name an alleged source that she never quoted, and if she loses her appeal next week, it can be the slammer for Judith. Ironically, it does not appear, from what I’ve read, that Novak has been asked to reveal his source in the original story, although there is a national movement forming to “Bust Bob.”
It seem to me ironic that Bush and his supporters are the ones who complain about “activist judges .” If Congress can make no law to abridge free press, who empowered judges to do so? I think we are all endangered by the loss of one reporter’s freedom to ask back-channel questions and we all need to fear a government that watches too closely who speaks to whom and listens too closely to what was said.
I wonder if 48 months from now, I'll still be able to publish words like these without repercussion and I am not optimistic.
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