Journalists have met the challenge
Reporter goes on trial in Iowa
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Morning Briefing
The question you all should be asking yourself is where are you getting your local information about the pandemic.
I get mine from The Post-Star. Kathleen Moore, who previously covered town issues in Queensbury and Moreau, has had to put much of that aside over the past year to chronicle the number of Covid 19 cases, the effect on the communities and how our local leaders have reacted to the challenges. Essentially, she has taken over the health beat full-time.
Getting that information without an independent news source is difficult and often tainted by politics.
There are many other Kathleen Moores out there.
Kristen Hare writes this in the Poynter story: “The majority of journalism in the U.S. is community journalism,” but that it is often ignored. The professors believed it was important to give a voice to small newspapers. The project produced nearly 700 pages of oral history.
“These weekly rural community newspapers have just been a significant lifeline for people during the pandemic,” said Professor Finnemann, “and I don’t think that can be overstated.”
Many of the small newspapers saw huge increases in their digital audience which could offer a lifetime for the future. One paper in Nebraska gave its newspaper away for free.
I loved this quote from one publisher who purchased a paper in a bad financial situation: “It’s sort of like seein’ a puppy beside the road, you know, are you gonna leave it there to die or are you gonna take it home, even if you have another dog?”
It’s another reminder that during a pandemic, the folks at the newspaper are “essential workers” too, because they offer you essential information. You should not leave it along the road to die.
Do your part today, get a digital subscription of The Post-Star for just $3 for three months.
Be a good citizen.
Be a more informed citizen.
Reporter goes on trial
A reporter at the Des Moines Register went on trial yesterday after being arrested covering a Black Lives Matter protest last May. She is charged with failure to disperse and interference with official acts.
We all should be frightened anytime reporters are arrested while doing their job.
The reporter, Andrea Sahouri, says she was covering the protest live on Twitter. She said she was running after police used tear gas at the scene. Shortly after that a police officer shot pepper spray in her face and she was restrained with zip ties. She said she identified herself as a journalist, but the officer says she did not.
Most cases end there, authorities sort it out, some time apologies are made, but that is not the case here. Authorities are arguing Sahouri was not wearing a press credential and was a participant in the protest.
In a recent editorial, the Des Moines Register wrote: “That this trial is happening at all is a violation of free press rights and a miscarriage of justice. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented an alarming increase in arrests and detainment of journalists in 2020: at least 126, compared to nine in all of 2019. Most of them, like Sahouri’s, happened at protests as Americans took to the streets to demand change from their government, after the deaths of George Floyd and other Black Americans at the hands of police, and preceding and following the tumultuous November election. As the tracker’s managing editor, Kirstin McCudden, and others have noted, `for journalists the most dangerous place in America is at a protest.’”
Certainly, Post-Star reporters can attest to that during the downtown protests in 2019.
That should never be the case.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/editorials/2021/02/24/iowa-reporter-charged-prosecution-violates-first-amendment-free-press-rights/6761234002/
Making it painful
I like what West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin said on Sunday about making the filibuster painful. If you ever watched the movie, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” you get the idea. If a member of the U.S. Senate disapproves of a piece of legislation being passed by the majority, Senate members can filibuster by holding the floor and talking about anything they want for as long as they want.
In the movie, Jimmy Stewart holds the floor for hours before finally collapsing in the climatic scene.
There have been real-life examples as well. Strom Thurman, the segregationist from South Carolina, conducted a 24-hour, 18-minute filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
Southern Democrats led a 60-day filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 before a vote finally ended the debate.
Manchin, a moderate Democrat, who said he is against scrapping a 60-vote majority to pass legislation, suggested he might be open to a speaking filibuster that would bring opposing sides to the negotiating table.
Under those conditions, those filibustering would have to remain near the Senate chambers around the clock. The goal is still to waste time, but hopefully limit the filibuster’s use to only the most controversial matters.