New legislation pushed by congress to protect Journalists and Press Freedoms

 

Mark Reinhardt- Boise Idaho

 

As of July 2021 the Radio Television Digital News Association announced their push for new legislation in Congress. They describe the situation for Journalists and Newsrooms in this fashion, “Today even the most routine stories are met with increased risk. Journalists across the country have reported physical and verbal assault, targeted equipment damage and being shot at while on the job.”  

 

https://www.rtdna.org/article/voice_of_the_first_amendment_update_journalist_protection_act_introduced_today

 

The piece of draft legislation titled “Journalist Protection Act” would make it a Federal crime to assault or intimidate Journalists in the process of news gathering. The legislation sponsored in the house by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D) CA and Senator Max Blumenthal (D) CT was introduced in 2019. An Identical bill was introduced in the Senate the same year. According to the congress.gov website, there were 19 co-sponsors for the House legislation all of which were democrats.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1684/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22HR+1684%22%5D%7D&r=3&s=3

 

The authority for consideration of bills rests with the committee chair. The process, known as a markup, is where the bill along with amendments are considered before they return to the House or Senate floor.

https://www.congress.gov/legislative-process/committee-consideration

 

 

According to the Reporters Without Borders Website, the United States ranks 44^th in terms of Press Freedom around the world despite First Amendment Protections. This is out of 180 countries listed on the website. They had previously left the ranking at 45^th during the Occupy Wall Street protests while the Obama administration was in Office.

https://rsf.org/en/ranking

 

 

The Committee to Protect Journalists documented 300 cases of assaults on Journalists mostly, by Law Enforcement, in the year 2020. Further describing the situation, the CPJ said, “Today, seven months after the protests began, and with at least 12 journalists still facing criminal charges – some of which carry jail terms and fines – members of the U.S. press continue to grapple with how the unprecedented series of attacks on the media occurred. “

 

The most common causes observed by Free Press advocates, is Political Climate, Vitriol, and Militarized Law Enforcement. It was observed by the CPJ that Newsgathering activities were never codified into law and haven’t been. The result of this has been to be less reliant on Press Badges as a form of protection.

 

https://cpj.org/2020/12/in-2020-u-s-journalists-faced-unprecedented-attacks/

 

This trend was also documented by US Government funded Voice of America News. Journalists working for the outlet were reminded of their coverage of overseas civil disturbances. A Journalist working for VOA’s Indonesia Service described the situation thusly, “I understand that being a ‘collateral damage’ in covering demonstrations and riots, is unavoidable,” she said. “But being intentionally targeted with tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets, even after they had displayed press ID, is a direct violations of press freedom.”

 

https://www.voanews.com/press-freedom/covering-us-protests-journalists-find-unexpected-threats

 

In January of this year, a Pro-Trump protest that later turned into a riot resulted in bodily harm committed against Journalists by Pro-Trump activists according to Voice of America news. It was also pointed out initially that Law Enforcement bared some culpability according to the VOA report, “By the end of the day, Andrade-Rhoades says, she had been struck by four rubber bullets — three in the leg and one in the upper hip — as police clashed with rioters, and three people had threatened to shoot her.” The report than described an incident with an Associated Press Photographer, “The journalist is one of several who say they were attacked or threatened by the rioters last Wednesday. Footage showed crowds smashing equipment belonging to an Associated Press crew, charging and yelling at reporters, and dragging a photographer backward over a ledge.”

 

https://www.voanews.com/press-freedom/us-journalists-suffer-attacks-during-capitol-riot-protests

 

 

An argument against the bill was presented by Ross Givens of the Kushinlos YouTube channel. Who said the following about the legislation, “It could lead to journalists having to be licensed and a list of official journalists. As in, only people the government says are journalists would be protected by this law and the others that will come down the line.” Further describing how the legislation could be used as an attack on Citizen Journalists in the United States.

 

 

As the trend of attacks against Journalists persist from Law Enforcement, and from the extremes on both sides of the political spectrum. Journalists, Independent, Public Funded, or Corporate,  are now at greater risk of harm/bodily injury due to a political climate amplified by the Trump Administration.

 

 

What is Critical Race Theory, really?

 

Mark Reinhardt- Boise Idaho

 

Currently in Idaho, as well as nationwide in the United States, a debate has been raging about the teaching of Critical Race Theory in the nations Public Schools. What is it really? According to Britannica.com it is defined this way, “intellectual movement and loosely organized framework of legal analysis based on the premise that race is not a natural, biologically grounded feature of physically distinct subgroups of human beings but a socially constructed (culturally invented) category that is used to oppress and exploit people of colour.”

 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/critical-race-theory

 

According to Britannica, the movement itself had started its first workshop in 1989 with roots going back to the 1960’s through 1970’s.  This was verified by Columbia University who described the beginnings of Critical Race Theory, “Critical race theory was a movement that initially started at Harvard under Professor Derrick Bell in the 1980s. It evolved in reaction to critical legal studies, which came about in the 70s and dissected the idea that law was just and neutral.”

 

Later in the blog post on the University website it described how legal scholars of color widely adopted its tenants. Describing a concept familiar to political discourse in 2021, “Although the scholarship differs in emphasis and discipline, it is united by an interest in understanding and rectifying the ways in which a regime of white supremacy and its subordination of people of color in America has had an impact on the relationship between social structure and professed ideals such as “the rule of law” and “equal protection.”

 

https://news.columbia.edu/news/what-critical-race-theory-and-why-everyone-talking-about-it-0

 

Idaho Lt. Governor Janice McGeachin created what is known as a Education Indoctrination Task Force. The task force was designed to root out teachings of Socialism, Communism and Critical Race Theory. Legislation was passed by the Idaho State Legislature banning the teaching of CRT, however, the Idaho Freedom Foundation thought the legislation does not go far enough.

 

In a post on the Idaho Freedom Foundation's website, it highlighted remarks from an African American mother, who they say is a Conservative. She describes the education situation within the state in the following fashion, “We can do all of this because we live in an incredible country. America that offers us limitless possibilities for all people who are willing to dream and work hard. That is why I love this country and that is why I oppose critical race theory and anything that resembles it. “

https://idahofreedom.org/video-black-conservative-mom-in-idaho-trashed-critical-race-theory-and-its-peddlers/

In her remarks she described an organization, which was not identified in the video posted by the group, as seeking to destroy America under the guise of Social Justice causes. Critical Race Theorists do not describe themselves as a Social Justice Movement. They do describe themselves as a scholarly legal study looking at institutions and their impact on race relations.

 the Idaho Freedom Foundation's media policy statement reads, "The Idaho Freedom Foundation has found most of the legacy news media to be agenda-driven propagandists working to shift public opinion toward socialist ideas. The IFF will not help legitimize biased, unfair pseudo-journalism by responding to requests for comment." 

 

Historically, according to the book Manufacturing Consent by Professor Noam Chomsky, the propaganda model of american legacy media leans to the side of corporations and right-wing policies.

 

As the debate over race relations and CRT continue to occur across the country, a great deal of Americans are increasingly turning to the online world for information.