Feinsteins Bill to Kill Free Speech of Independent Journalists Has Votes to Pass SenateNick Bernabe Although the bill is being sold by the Obama administration and establishment politicians in both parties as a positive step in protecting free speech, unfortunately the name of this bill is highly deceiving. Remembering just how unpatriotic the Patriot Act was, this new law, although deceivingly named, is likely to crush freedom of speech of any journalist not on a corporate payroll. According to the AP, this is how the bill defines who a real journalist is: Essentially, if you dont work for the likes of the dying mainstream media, the government can (and will) subpoena any journalist to force them to reveal their sources or face prosecution. Apparently, as described by one of the nations biggest hypocrites, the First Amendment only applies to some people and the government should get to decide who those people are. According to the bill, any information that in purpose, subject matter and period of time covered so as to avoid compelling disclosure of peripheral, nonessential or speculative information. could potentially be subject to Big Brothers sticky fingers. You can see the two different versions of the bill here and here and Feinsteins journalism crushing amendment here. Truth-Out.org describes the Feinstein amendment as follows: This bill later goes on to define how a real (corporate) journalist would go about disseminating information: This language, although dangerously vague, clearly fails to protect any journalist, reporter or blogger who reports via social media. Facebook page admins, YouTube video extraordinaires, Twitter phenoms and top Tumblrers say goodbye to your freedom of speech. I cant tell whether this is another corporate jab at the free flow of information or just Big Bureaucracy trying to protect its backside from the highly anti-establishment independent media. Either way, this is a dangerous piece of legislation, once again disguised under a misleading name, aimed directly at the growing anti-media movement. Free Press describes the law: Most problematically, disclosure can be compelled when the information in question would assist the federal government in stopping or mitigating other acts that are reasonably likely to cause significant and articulable harm to national security. This language could be construed to apply to any number of circumstances, so long as the government argues there is some threat to the limitless concept of national security. Another shortfall lies in how the Act limits the scope of who qualifies as a covered person. Many policymakers want to limit protections to those who make a significant amount of their income and livelihood from journalism. But the federal shield law should cover anyone who provides journalistic services, even if a person is not professionally or regularly employed as a journalist. Although the reason for this new media shattering language is still unknown, what is clear is that this bill must be killed. Here is a petition you can sign, maybe theyll read it. More importantly, call or email your Senators and let them know we want free press not free* press. Support your favorite indy journalists now while you still can. Subscribe to their email lists, donate to them, share their articles and videos and stand together against this corporate bureaucratic power grab. If youve been thinking about getting into the independent journalism field, get some blood in the game now before its too late. Lets hit them with everything weve got. Heres a quick guide that we put together for anyone thinking about joining the anti-media movement. For a more in-depth look at the Journalism Shield Law watch this video starting at 1:10: Nick Bernabe writes for TheAntiMedia.org where this article first appeared. Follow them onTwitter @TheAntiMedia1 