Watching the Watchdog
Back in April the Department of Homeland Security posted a Statement of Work on their website. It detailed a plan titled “Media Monitoring Services.” This plan seeks to “gather and monitor the public activities of media professionals and influencers.”
Media influencers? Pretty broad statement. A popular enough YouTube channel could be a media influencer. Anyone remember the political leanings of The Annoying Orange? This article I am writing could theoretically land me on a list. Now, I do not have the ego to think that I am that good of a writer. I have been out of the journalism business for eight years. Just popping back in because in times like these, when the watchdog is under threat, I get concerned.
The Watchdog of the people. That is what the press is…or should be. Imagine the press as a dog, pacing the yard of America. Anytime something happens, they let us know. Sometimes it’s a little yippy dog.
Yip yip — actors get secretly married — yip yip.
Sometimes the press is Cujo. Deep guttural barks. Woof woof — MLK assassinated — woof woof.
Lately it seems that there is some debate as to who is news and who is fake news. Really for this article, it shouldn’t matter. Everyone who has ever written anything as a blogger, tumblr, or high school paper could be at risk.
I was a photojournalist in the years after 9/11. I had to carry a card with my rights on it to prove to others I could take pictures, and I don’t mean credentials (which I also had) I mean law citations. We had journalists and photographers arrested just for taking pictures, cameras broken, and SD cards taken.
However, it is one thing to run across a security guard in a small town who doesn’t know the law. It is entirely another thing for the Department of Homeland Security to have a list of every person who may be a media influencer.
For the sake of this article, it doesn’t matter if you believe CNN or FOX or Forbes or NBC. There is reason to be concerned. Until recently the news was our guardian angels, the fourth estate, here to protect the public from the wrongdoings of the government and the corporations. Maybe not protect exactly, but at least bring to light the wrongdoings. There is a reason many of our pop culture heroes are journalists.
Peter Parker — Spiderman — photojournalist
Clark Kent — Superman — Journalist
April O’Neil, Kermit the Frog, Hunter S. Thompson. This is not by mistake, journalists were considered above reproach (well, maybe not the last one there). How many shows or movies can you think where “the intrepid reporter ignores the editors wishes to get the story.” It is so common it has become a movie trope. And the story is usually a politician making hinky deals or drug runners or something awful.
Yeah, those that are getting caught are gonna try and discredit or disrupt those doing the catching. But this, this is different. This is a list, this could be names, addresses, phone numbers. This could be punitive. How long before that list is compiled into two lists? Those that write nice things and those that write the truth. Those who are allowed to go to press conferences and those that cannot.
The ramifications of this are unreal. Let’s say this article goes big, real big, millions of views big. Well, this article is critical of a government policy. Given that I am a public servant, this could affect my job. Maybe I don’t get fired, but maybe I never promote either. Maybe my name gets put on a bunch of other lists too. Next time I get put on the No Fly list.
We need to agree that the news needs to be protected, even those with a bias. Much like the freedom of speech, you cannot protect one view. Even if you do not agree, everyone is entitled to their beliefs.
Frankly this list terrifies me. Not because I used to work in the news industry, but because this is a direct attack on the first amendment. Not only that, but the broad nature of the terms. How much influence does a “media influencer” need to have before they get listed? This is one of the moments that can determine the future. Do we let our watchdogs roll over and play nice for the government guy with the snacks? It doesn’t matter if your watchdog is red or blue, liberal, conservative, LGBTQ, none of the above or all. If we allow the government to put a muzzle on our watchdog, who is going to warn us of danger?
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Originally published at docs.google.com.
