Democracy

What is a Journalist?

Vanessa Leggett, a college English teacher and freelance writer, is languishing in jail after she refused to turn her notes over to the FBI, which is investigating a murder case she is writing about. The FBI rejected her claims of being a journalist because she hasn't published yet. She insists that she is "sacrificing personal liberty" to maintain her "journalistic freedom." But should the FBI be deciding who is or isn't a journalist?

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If We Tell You, Terrorists Will Kill You

It has been two years since Congress suppressed an overview of the risks to people from chemical plant explosions. Dangerous chemical plants, they argued, were potential terrorist weapons, and if terrorists knew which ones were most dangerous, they would target them. Congress also ordered the Justice Department to produce a report by August 2000 on how to protect chemical plants from terrorists and make them less dangerous. A year after that deadline, the report is nowhere to be seen.

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Police Violence in Genoa Raises Outcry

Portland, Oregon resident Susan Hager's daughter Morgan was one of three U.S. citizens hospitalized in Genoa as a result of unprovoked violence by Italian police against protesters at the Group of 8 summit meeting. In the early hours of July 22, 92 young people were dragged from their beds by squads of Italian anti-riot police officers who kicked them, pummeled them with clubs and threw them down stairs. Emergency room doctors said a number of the injured would have died without treatment.

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Did Jack Welch Call the Election for George Bush?

Did General Electric CEO Jack Welch, who signs the checks for the folks at NBC News, ask NBC chief Andrew Lack to call the presidential election in favor of George W. Bush well before the election was actually over? According to Representative Henry Waxman, Welch did pay a visit to the NBC control room that night last November, cheering whenever Bush was ahead and griping whenever Gore took the lead. At one point he asked a staffer, "What would I have to give you to call the race for Bush?" And he was ultimately the one who gave the order to actually do so.

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Italy to Study Genoa Violence

Anxious to avoid another public relations calamity, the Italian government has agreed to allow a parliamentary inquiry into the horrific police violence that injured 240 protesters during recent globalization talks in Genoa. The violence included the secret torture of arrestees in police cells. "I heard my ribs break, like snapping matchsticks. I thought, my God, this is it, I'm going to die," said Mark Covell, one of the journalists injured when police attacked the school where he was staying.

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The Media Is the Mess

The belated discovery that George W. Bush's campaign applied two disparate standards for counting overseas ballots in Florida -- liberal for Bush strongholds and stringent for counties carried by Al Gore -- underscores again the huge advantage that the well-funded conservative news media gives the Republicans. "By having a powerful media of its own -- from TV networks to nationwide talk radio, from news magazines to daily newspapers -- the conservative movement can give its stamp to events during the crucial few days when the public is paying attention," writes Robert Parry.

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B-M Paid to Wave the Flag and Burn the Constitution

Gutting the First Amendment has become the "patriotic" last refuge for scoundrel PR firm Burson-Marsteller (B-M). Citizens Flag Alliance depicts themselves as a frustrated group of proud veterans saving our nation from flag burning by amending the constitution. However, the CFA website and media reports fail to identify perhaps their most important "member," the giant PR firm reaping big bucks managing the campaign. B-M's masterminds are no doubt the source of CFA talking points such as: "Putting a few disgusting means of expression out of bounds in no way threatens ...

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