by Joe Wolverton, II, J.D., The New American:
It is an easy step from restraining the press to making it place the worst actions of government in so favorable a light, that we may groan under tyranny and oppression without knowing from whence it comes. — “Cincinnatus” No. 2
The First Amendment is clear:
Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press….
If the Constitution is to be respected as the “supreme law of the land,” then any attempt by a government official to prevent a person’s access to the press is unconstitutional and historically one of the first steps toward absolute tyranny.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
Recently, a federal judge recognized that fact and protected the right of anyone to make use of the press and use it to criticize the powerful and call the corrupt to account.
Here’s a small backstory as published by Reason online:
“Justin Pulliam, a citizen journalist arrested while covering Fort Bend County Sheriff’s deputies, won a first-round victory in his civil rights lawsuit brought by the Institute for Justice (IJ),” the organization announced this week. “A federal district court rejected the sheriff’s attempt to dismiss the case. Pulliam will have the opportunity to hold the sheriff and his deputies responsible for violating his First Amendment rights to record the police and to be treated the same as established media or other members of the public.”
Admittedly, Pulliam has not won this war, but the judge’s order did sway the first battle his way.
Beyond the judicial victory, however, the judge’s order is a victory for the freedom of the press generally, and the right of the people to enjoy the protection the First Amendment affords to the press.
The sheriff’s office argues that Pulliam isn’t a member of the “media,” and therefore his videos don’t qualify as “the press,” and therefore they are not protected by the First Amendment.
Of course they would say that. Pulliam’s YouTube channel — Corruption Report — is devoted to exposing the corruption of police interaction with citizens. As their way of demonstrating their opinion that Pulliam isn’t a “member of the press,” the sheriff’s department kicked him out of a press conference and arrested him for recording officers’ treatment of a person suffering a mental crisis.
This is a common occurrence today. The fact that one must show one’s “press credentials” to be allowed into certain public meetings is anathema to the very conception of a free press as held by those who wrote and supported the First Amendment.
Proving this is as easy as reading James Madison’s original wording of that part of the First Amendment at issue in this case, that is, concerning freedom of the press and speech. On June 8, 1789, then-Congressman James Madison proposed the following protections to be included in the Bill of Rights:
The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.
Notice who Madison says gets the protection of the free press? The people. All the people enjoy this right, not just some select segment of them that have earned the right by playing nice with the regime.
Read More @ TheNewAmerican.com
