Note to the AIRC: Some bloggers are press entitled to First Amendment protection

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Arizona Independent Redistricting Commision (AIRC) Republican Commissioner Richard Stertz suggested at the AIRC public hearing on Monday that anyone could be considered a blogger and could have contacts with the Commission's mapping consultant without that contact having to be logged in by Strategic Telemetry.

This oversimplification seems valid at first blush. Any number of people have personal blogs who write about whatever interests them, from their personal life and family, to movies, to books, to sports, etc. This is what Mr. Stertz intended to suggest by his comments.

His oversimplification fails under scrutiny, however. Personal blogs are not primarily news content entitled to First Amendment media protection, nor do personal blogs have any prominence as a news source entitled to First Amendment media protection.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently announced that it will classify, and therefore protect, some bloggers as members of the press. FBI Adds 'Prominent Bloggers' to Members of the Press | News & Opinion | PCMag.com:

Bloggers would have to be considered "prominent" to qualify, although it's unclear how their prominence will be measured and what benchmark they'll have to meet.

This new look at bloggers is part of larger changes taking place at the FBI, as the organization revises and clarifies a 2008 Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, The New York Times reports.

* * *

Adding bloggers to the document acknowledges that the Internet has altered whom we defined as members of the media, and as much as that sounds like a good thing, the FBI is very fuzzy about the details.

The FBI treats media professionals, in its guidelines, with extra care and added supervision to make sure their free speech rights are protected. Prominent bloggers, while sometimes employed by a traditional media business, can also be independent or unpaid. The new guidelines would take the same extra precautions with prominent bloggers that are afforded to media professionals, but not low-profile bloggers—and without a clear demarcation between the two groups.

Let's be clear: the blogger at issue here is Steve Muratore of The Arizona Eagletarian, who is the unoffical blogger of the AIRC. He has attended almost every meeting around the state, at his own expense, to report on the public meetings of the Commission, the only reporter to do so.

So is Steve Muratore a "prominent blogger" of news? One measure would be the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza's The Fix, the Best State-Based Political Blogs blog roll. The Fix’s best state-based political blogs (extended edition) – The Fix – The Washington Post (August 3, 2011). Who won the reader's contest for best state-based political blogs this year for Arizona?

The Fix’s 2011 best state-based blog list

Arizona

Arizona Eagletarian

Espresso Pundit

– The list is based entirely on reader submissions.

And the last contest in 2009? The Fix – The Best State Political Blogs:

Arizona

Rum, Romanism & Rebellion
AZ/DC (Arizona Republic)
Sonoran Alliance
Blog for Arizona

– The list is based entirely on reader submissions.

Now there are many other legitimate and prominent news blogs that do reporting, both by traditional news organizations like the Tucson Weekly and Phoenix New Times, and news collective blogs like the Tucson Citizen and the Tucson Sentinel, and individuals who do reporting like Craig McDermott at Random Musings (cross-posts at Blog for Arizona), Ted Prezelski at Rum, Romanism & Rebellion, Steve Muratore at The Arizona Eagletarian, and our own David Safier here at Blog for Arizona. You will find links to these blogs listed on almost everyone's blog roll.

Everyone knows who the legitimate and prominent news blogs are here in Arizona. So let's dispense with this nonsense that anyone can call themselves a blogger and have contact with the Commission's mapping consultant without that contact having to be logged in by Strategic Telemetry. This is just red meat for the Tea Party tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists who are stark raving mad over Strategic Telemetry.

Is it appropriate for Republican Commissioners Richard Stertz and Scott Freeman to be playing to the tinfoil hats in the audience, and thereby undermining the legitimacy and credibility of their own work on the Commission? I think not.

These Commissioners should cease this nonsense immediately and support the clarification to the amendment adopted last week to the contract for Strategic Telemetry. Wild-eyed Tea Party tinfoil hat conspiracy theories do not trump constitutional First Amendment freedom of the press in performing the role of the press to inform the public as the watchdog of democracy.