Bipartisan Group Officially Introduces Bill To Protect Journalists That Was First Reported By TPM

Originally published at: Bipartisan Group Officially Introduces Bill To Protect Journalists That Was First Reported By TPM

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Kevin Kiley (R-CA) on Thursday officially introduced federal anti-SLAPP legislation, meant to protect journalists and other critics from frivolous lawsuits, particularly of the sort that are expected under the new Trump regime.  I broke the news of the existence of the legislation, and the plan…

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I appreciate this bill, even if it doesn’t have much chance of passing before that man takes office.

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Ron and Jamie never stop putting up the good fight. We are lucky to have them.

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Why? We have plenty of these laws.

What a waste. Let journalist protect themselves, I mean are they some official constituency of the Democrat party? We already have a first amendment. Linking the Dem party with journalist and their health is not going to win elections. Dem’s should be in the business of winning elections. The only protections/opposition should be laser focused on the street. Or does RaskinWyden (who I love) own some media stock options. I’m sorry but this is ridiculous. It reeks of half-measures, insiderism and weakness.

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“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men – not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.” ― Edward R. Murrow

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I think you are missing the point. In an autocracy there is no ability for the press to defend itself. Look at Russia.

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This bill is intended to protect journalists from retaliatory lawsuits. It has nothing to do with what the next administration has promised to do. Or were you being sarcastic? It’s hard to tell sometimes if people don’t use “/s.”

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“Goliath triumphs over David in our justice system when powerful special interests can silence their critics with frivolous strategic lawsuits against public participation, or ‘SLAPPs,’” Raskin added.

If we wanna get metaphor happy, the overarching story of this era is likely to be Goliath triumphing over David while all the other Davids cheer him on.

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Journalists are specifically referenced in the Constitution of the United States, First Amendment: see “freedom of the press”.

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Not a single GOP senator supports a bill protecting journalists’ 1st amendment rights.

I wanna say, Shocking! But it’s not.

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This isn’t Russia. You don’t have a huge population of subservient dependent types pining for the strongman to show up and tell them what to do, (you do have gullible brainwashed mobs and low information folks that can’t remember who they voted for). We have street power here. I personally don’t want my elected official catering to journalist not wanting to be sued. They can hire lawyers like the rest of us. Let’s focus on ramming and expanded supreme court down the throats of the GOP during a lame duck session, discharge all middle/lower class education and other debt, and send Cruise missiles to Ukraine. Journalist, sheesh.

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You’re right, I’m just fed up with all this journalist focused hand wringing. They are not going to save us from Trump, or prevent Trump or anything of the sort.

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When you can’t even be bothered to actually read claims submitted by your customers, maybe you shouldn’t exist in the first place.

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Regardless of what he and his company did, it does not justify this man’s murder in broad daylight outside a Hilton on 6th Avenue. Let us come together as Republicans and Democrats in thought and prayer to wish his body swift passage into the elements and energies of the material universes. May his indestructible spirit have pleasant journeys and receive just treatments in the lives hereinafter. My sincere condolences to all who loved him.

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“The reader can press a button and get both sides of that exact same story,” Patrick Soon-Shiong tells Scott Jennings"

Oh this is fun! So will the ‘who, what, when, where, how and why’ change? Will the AI go into a ketamine hallucination? Will there be a deeper investigative angle to the stories now there is AI tagged on? Will the story suddenly disappear if it is not favorable to conservatives like what happens on Faux News?

This is going to work out brilliantly./s

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Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong needs to audit a journalism class. Maybe read some editorials from the LA Times archives. At least watch All the President’s Men, or Absence of Malice.

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I guess we could hope he could learn, but of that I am doubtful. He owns a freaking major newspaper and clearly does not have the curiosity to ask some journalists probing, or even basic, questions about journalism.

I will love it when they train the AI on science education so it can give students the “liberal” and “conservative” version. And what else are we up for on this one?

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The paper will lack truth and fact. Got it.

Trump has also used state-level anti-SLAPP protections successfully in his own legal defense

So, no principles of the Republican Party are involved.

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“Man”? Seems a bit of a stretch… :roll_eyes:

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