Sen. Diane Feinstein and a horde of
members of Congress of both parties want to decide who is and who isn’t a
reporter. Sen. Feinstein says a “real” reporter is a “salaried agent of a media
company.”
She mentions the usual suspects—New York Times, ABC News. She dismisses part-time
staff. She dismisses freelancers. She dismisses those who write, often without
pay, for the hundreds of alternative publications, and often break news and
investigative stories well ahead of the mainstream media. She dismisses anyone
who, she says, “have no professional qualifications.”
