Coyote Blog wrote the following, in 2005, in response to federal legislation about what can and cannot be publicly said as an election approaches
These past few weeks, we have been debating whether this media exemption from speech restrictions should be extended to bloggers. At first, I was in favor. Then I was torn. Now, I am pissed. The more I think of it, it is insane that we are creating a 2-tiered system of first amendment rights at all, and I really don't care any more who is in which tier. Given the wording of the Constitution, how do I decide who gets speech and who doesn't - it sounds like everyone is supposed to...
I have come to the conclusion that arguing over who gets the media exemption is like arguing about whether a Native American in 1960's Alabama should use the white or the colored-only bathroom: It is an obscene discussion and is missing the whole point, that the facilities shouldn't be segregated in the first place.
I have not followed this issue, but he claims that new legislation in the same vein is coming up.
I normally try not to pick sides on the hard issues on this blog, because I want readers to see more deeply into issues and even come to appreciate the big problems facing us nowadays. On this issue, though, there is a question of fundamental rights. I see no reason that the press should have different speech protections than anyone else. Do we not have a free press in this country? I believe we do, and should preserve that. A free press means that we are all members of the press. Speech rights are not limited to some Truth Propagation Guild. In the USA, we all get to speak, most especially when an election is coming up.