There's a Senate bill being pushed by democrats that would grant to the justice department the right to define who is a journalist and who isn't, based on who they work for. The reason for having to define "journalist" at all is when a story becomes part of the legal process, the question of revealing sources always comes up. But should the government be the sole judge as to who qualifies as a journalist and thereby confer onto the favored ones the right to keep a secret source?
Clearly the government being an arbiter of any kind when it comes to news gathering and dissemination is counter to the constitutional notion of a "free press" envisioned by the founders.
I can easily imagine a situation where a liberal blogger who freelances for an online news outlet whose parent company is NBC, publishes something slanderous and secretive he was told about Sarah Palin. Palin sues the person, but Eric Holder confers "journalist" status onto the blogger and protects him from having to reveal who told him the information. And we all know it's because, of the three major networks, NBC is the biggest supporter of the Obama administration. And Obama tells Holder that NBC must be kept happy as payback for all the friendly coverage.
This kind of thing happens every day in DC, and especially with this administration. Just imagine how much worse it'll be when the treachery is out in the open?
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