I just paintshop'd this up...feel free to save a copy spread it around...
Posted on 05/17/2005 10:54:43 AM PDT by Captal de Buch
SAF CALLS FOR ‘WAITING PERIODS’ ON PRESS FOLLOWING FATAL NEWSWEEK DEBACLE
For Immediate Release: 5/16/2005
BELLEVUE, WA – More than 115 dead or injured, and now a lame “apology” from Newsweek; maybe it is time for the press to accept waiting periods before exercising its First Amendment rights in the same way the press has backed waiting periods on law-abiding Americans before exercising their Second Amendment rights.
That’s the observation from the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) now that Newsweek has acknowledged its report about the desecration of the Koran by soldiers at Guantanamo Bay was bogus.
“I wonder if Newsweek, or its owner, the Washington Post, would submit all of their stories for FBI clearance before they publish,” said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. “This irresponsible exercise of the First Amendment freedom of the press has killed and injured more people than Charles Whitman or the Beltway Snipers.
“How many times,” Gottlieb wondered, “have Newsweek and The Washington Post advocated waiting periods for law-abiding citizens, who have hurt nobody, before they can buy a firearm? A waiting period amounts to prior restraint by the government. How loud would reporters scream if they faced prior restraint before printing their version of the news? Their double standard is hypocritical.
“The Second Amendment is the only civil right in this country that Americans can’t exercise unless they get government permission,” he noted. “A Newsweek story just killed or injured more than 115 people, but they don’t have to face government scrutiny before turning on the press.
“Newsweek reporters and editors should be subject to the same kind of ‘cooling-off’ period they advocate for gun buyers,” Gottlieb observed. “In their heated rush to print a sensational story to discredit American soldiers and the Bush Administration, they started a chain reaction that ended in worldwide acts of violence.
“The blood is on Newsweek’s hands,” Gottlieb stated. “Their report killed and injured scores of people, yet it is the American gun owner who must endure waiting periods because of an irrational fear that they might commit a crime. Crimes were committed because of Newsweek’s story. People have died.”
The Second Amendment Foundation is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers & an amicus brief & fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right
Delicious Irony !!!
...why not?
BUMP!
/only partial sarcasm, there is a censorship issue here--but we ARE at war.
They should be FINED, Printing should cease and be placed under a Censorship Committee for retraining in the PROFESSIONAL Journalism area. They can start only after all of their employees have gone through a Sensitivity Training for "Truth in The News" and can only start their presses under the guidence and approval of the Censorship board.
How about a "newsweek magazine buyback program"?
PRICELESS!!!
"newsweek magazine buyback program"
LOL (But let's not go overboard).
I would argue that the published word wielded by irresponsible journalists have far more capacity for harm than guns in the hands of irresponsible gun owners. Anybody care to guess how many of our troops have died in Iraq as a direct result of irresponsible reporting?.
The Constitution is a 'living, breathing document'.
The 1st Amendment is obviously does not grant individuals or even private companies freedom of speech. It is a collective right of state run press corps.
No foreign media should be allowed importation into this country, except the sports section. Other types of news serve no sporting purpose.
Journalists must submit their articles to the Bureau of Print, Television, and Radio for approval before they may publish them. They must pay a $200 transfer of information tax each time.
Every journalist must be serial numbered on the forehead, with which paper/broadcasting company and how many articles they have reported. Do it for the children! To stop assault journalism.
I just paintshop'd this up...feel free to save a copy spread it around...
Very nice. All you say is true, but allow me to add some historical context: when the 1st Amendment was adopted, our low density, rural population demographics and slow means of distributing newspapers (the fastest means of mass communications) meant that erroneous news stories couldn't do much harm. No frenzied mobs reacting to live news reports; many news sources.
Accordingly, since times have changed so significantly, I pronounce herewith towit thereby that: the 1st Amendment no longer applies to any news outlet with more than 10x the number of readers/viewers than the largest media source in existence in 1787. (See how easy it is to pretend to be a lib and to use what passes for lib logic?)
BTTT, and would we even be having this discussion if the people onboard those planes on 9/11 been armed instead of sitting ducks.
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