If you're a fan of your Second Amendment rights, I have some (mostly) good news to start your day. And a media double-header, well, a two and a half header.
Some (mostly) good news to start the day with:
A federal judge found that the potential for the harm done to the rights of Coloradans was high enough to issue a restraining order against the age limit for gun purchases yesterday.
A law that went into effect yesterday.
Unfortunately, the same judge did not find enough imminent harm to issue an injunction against the waiting period (which I presume will still have a day in court).
As I wrote before, protecting your Second Amendment rights in the context of Colorado being in Progressive Democrat hands is going to be a marathon and not a sprint.
If you are concerned and have yet to do something, now is the time. Get involved in some way, big or small. And give something to the effort to block things like this in the court.
I won't tell you who to give to or how much, but court fights aren't free and any positive number is greater than zero.
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/courts/federal-judge-agrees-to-block-colorado-law-raising-firearm-purchase-age/article_4b06529e-354d-11ee-9e1f-a335d4d4542f.html?utm_campaign=blox&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
Posted for those with an interest in media (or those that don't like the government to OWN such media).
The discussion between Caldara and Mr. Moore (former Denver Post editor) was an interesting one.
As media becomes more and more decentralized, as local media starts to dry up, and as the older institutions fall, one question that I seem to see more and more in my readings about media center around how to fund (or prop up) these former outlets.
One way is (and I've written about this a fair bit so I won't repeat it here) is for news outlets to become nonprofits.
Another way is for them to, in various ways, get funding from the government.
Now, if you've lived long enough on this planet, you'll realize that no money is ever given without strings attached or without expectations (either explicit or implicit or stated/perceived by either party).
What does that tell you about whether or not we ought to have the government in any way involved in funding news?
Interesting discussion and worth a listen. Put it on while you do dishes or something.
Note: the latter part of the discussion talked about the current Denver mayor and etc. I clicked out at that point. Not much interested.
The threats facing student journalism: genuine or overblown? How about the media in general, are they under attack?
Let's stay with journalism for another post. I came across the below in one of the email lists I'm on (this one, obviously, about media).
I had high hopes that I would see something substantial in this piece. Something to get me thinking.
Sadly, if you sift through the copious anecdotes and culture wars stuff here to try and figure out what the threats are, about all you can come up with of substance is the following (quoting--the hyper links left in should you want to follow them):
"Last September, I wrote in this newsletter about the threats facing student journalists in the US, both at the high school and university levels. Many of these—legal uncertainties around their rights, especially in the case of high school papers; censorship by administrators—were not new, but student journalists had also faced evolving challenges in common with their professional counterparts, from rising anti-press sentiment and online harassment to the logistical difficulties of the pandemic. At the same time, as local news has declined nationwide, student journalists have increasingly stepped into the void. As a result, they often do the work of professional journalists and face similar challenges without enjoying the same status or, in some cases, safeguards. Recent events have illustrated this again—and not just at Texas A&M."
Many of the problems mentioned above echo similar statements I've heard from non-student journalists. If you read about media, paying particular attention to the way that journalists like to see themselves, some patterns emerge. Seen from the outside, some of those patterns are:
--Reporters like to see themselves as besieged. They see themselves as battling the rest of humanity's anti-press sentiment. They see themselves as subject to harassment for doing their jobs. They are battling an industry with shrinking opportunities for relating news to others and careers for themselves.
--Reporters like to see themselves and the outlets that publish their work as critical to the nation's functioning. They see the lack of healthy functioning in our government as due to the things above. E.g. a dearth of local news is causing polarization, mishandling the way they cover or relate what politicians (let's be honest, it's Trump, it's just Trump here) say has caused people to not believe any facts.
--To varying degrees, reporters like to see themselves as having the unique training and experience to do their job. That is, the work they do cannot be done except by those who have their unique experience and training.
When media discuss themselves and the perceptions of who they are and where they fit in the grand scheme of things, I don't see a special threat to them, nor a particular bent toward whining.
What I see is pretty typical of human beings. I say that because I have (if you transpose details correctly) read the same or similar things about nearly every profession. I couldn't find it, but the image that came to my mind (since I am a teacher) is one of those cartoons that contrasts how teachers are seen by the administrators, by parents, by the public, and by themselves. The frame that showed how teachers see themselves has a character in a foxhole cowering while being shelled from all directions.
Everyone feels as though they are not appreciated for their efforts. Everyone is sensitive to criticism. Everyone wants to feel as though they contribute to this world and thus feels threatened if others don't agree. Everyone wants to feel as though they do something that others would struggle to do.
I can acknowledge that there are aspects of being a journalist that are unique and that put them in a unique position (for example, their work is publicly presented to the general public and thus they are more likely to run into people that have mental issues and confuse criticism with harassment). And I can acknowledge that there are legal protections (and resources that can be marshalled) for working reporters that may not extend to student newspapers on college campuses.
But outside of this, I don't think journalists (student or otherwise) fit into a category of being especially persecuted or of having a harder than usual go of it in this world.. They just have a microphone to speak loudly when airing their grievances.
Imagine what we'd hear if the people that haul away your trash had a bully pulpit.
I think it's important to note that no small part of the anti-press sentiment out there is traceable straight back to the choices and actions made by the very reporters themselves. How many times has what you've seen from the media made you feel as though someone was peeing down your back and telling you it was raining? Exactly.
If the press approached their jobs with more humility, reflected more about their choices and actions, were more open about the role that their views play in what they produce, and, did all of it, frankly, with less complaint, I think a good share of their problems would go away.
It may not be the same industry, but I can tell you that interactions with even the most troublesome, attitude-riddled adolescents I ever met went a hell of a lot better when I would (after cooling off) pause to remember that interactions are not one-way and that I'm not perfect.
That is, when I would stop to consider my role in the problem instead of blaming everyone and everything else.
https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/the-threats-facing-student-journalism-havent-gone-away.php
Related:
Another article written by the press about the press. This one seems to directly and causally link the lack of local news to political divisions.
I don't agree with the contentions here. I don't agree that a lack of local news has gotten us where we are. I think both the lack of local news and political division go hand in hand. They operate with feedback and they are also symptoms of larger societal moves.
Still, if media is a passion, reading up on things like this and giving them due thought are part of gaining a fuller understanding of the subject.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-the-loss-of-local-newspapers-fueled-political-divisions-in-the-u-s