We're All Journalists Now

At GigaOM, "Freedom of the press applies to everyone — yes, even bloggers" (via Glenn Reynolds):

In the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, released just a few weeks ago, the judges pointed out that the First Amendment’s protection for freedom of the press “encompasses a range of conduct related to the gathering and dissemination of information,” and that citizens have the right to investigate government affairs and share what they learn with others. Judge Kermit Lipez also specifically noted that these protections don’t just apply to professional journalists. He said in his decision:

[C]hanges in technology and society have made the lines between private citizen and journalist exceedingly difficult to draw. The proliferation of electronic devices with video-recording capability means that many of our images of current events come from bystanders [and] and news stories are now just as likely to be broken by a blogger at her computer as a reporter at a major newspaper. Such developments make clear why the news-gathering protections of the First Amendment cannot turn on professional credentials or status.

We couldn’t have put it any better ourselves (although we have tried a number of times). The advent of social news-distribution tools like Twitter and Facebook, not to mention blogs and YouTube and other web services and social networks, have powered what Om has called a “democratization of distribution” that makes virtually anyone into a publisher.

RTWT at the link.

RELATED: From Carol Rose, "Victory for liberty and the right to videotape public officials."

Authorities Shut Down San Gabriel 'Birthing Tourism' Maternity Center

This ought to feed the debate on birthplace citizenship. And these women are Chinese!!

At LAT, "'Birthing tourism' center in San Gabriel shut down":

From the outside, they looked like other recently built San Gabriel townhouses — two stories, Spanish style, with roofs of red tile.

Inside they were maternity centers for Chinese women willing to pay handsomely to travel here to give birth to American citizens.

Southern California has become a hub of so-called birthing tourism. Operators of such centers tend to try to blend in, attracting as little attention as possible.

But on quiet, residential Palm Avenue, neighbors had noticed an unusual number of pregnant women going in and out, and some complained about noise.

On March 8, code enforcement officials shut down three identical four-bedroom townhouses functioning as an unlicensed birthing center.

How Did Richard Dreyfuss End Up Not Being Involved in This?

Asks Doug Powers, "Bill Clinton and George HW Bush Chair New ‘National Institute for Civil Discourse’."



Folks'll have read the whole thing at the link above. The "Jaws" star was at CPAC promoting his new civic engagement gig, "The Dreyfuss Initiative." He's seen here being interviewed by Duane Lester of All American Blogger: "All American Interviews: Richard Dreyfuss, Actor and Activist."

Civil Discourse in Laguna Beach on Martin Luther King Day

A follow-up to last night, "United States Flag at Half-Mast at Sunset on MLK Day in Laguna Beach."



I spoke for a few minutes with these two beautiful young women. They were taking all kinds of pictures, and they asked me to help for a minute. It was a nice day.

I'll update with more later.

We Don't Need More Leaders: Social Networking and the Public Square

Interesting piece from NYT, "The Public Square Goes Mobile."

“We don’t need more leaders. We need more followers. Wherever & however you can enter public life is ok.”



That tweet by Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, is a radical provocation in our age of the non-expert. The nation is gripped by the fantasy that the least-qualified, least-experienced among us make ideal leaders. Dissatisfaction — no, real anger — with the status quo, as opposed to informed ideas or policy experience, seems to define qualifications for public service.

Coletta's Twitter page is here.