From his arguement against shield laws for journalists, Frank Cagle:
There is a false argument raging on the Internet about whether bloggers are “journalists” and whether they should be accorded the same rights and privileges. This is idiocy. The rights and privileges belong to every American citizen, whether they work for a newspaper or whether they even have a blog. For it to be any other way the government would have to be able to define what constitutes journalism. Any takers?
I am an extremist on this issue. I find it appalling that citizens have to turn out their pockets and subject themselves to a search to enter public buildings. Often, security people vet journalists and give them entrance ID’s—just like the lobbyists, the bureaucrats or the office holders. Instead of taking the ID, the journalists should be asking why lobbyists have a “get in free” card every day while average citizens “lobbying” have to be searched. Are you one of “us” or one of “them?” There are 500 lobbyists in Nashville. The assumption is made every day that they aren’t a security risk—that they don’t have a pocket knife or a can of mace. There is an assumption no legislator is “packing” a firearm, a dangerous assumption in Tennessee. But the citizens are suspects until proven innocent.