When You Think It's Getting Better ...

Things seemed to being going along pretty good.

Same-Sex Marriage passing here and there.

An NBA player coming out, more and more in support and acceptance of LGBTs and then the curtain is pulled back to show that homophobia is still with us and becoming more brutal and deadly.

Trans being killed in Brazil, two incidents of gay bashing in New York City and the brutal murder of a gay man in Russia.

Just when we were kidding ourselves into a comfort zone of acceptability the stark reality of what still is smacks us aside the head and we realize there is still danger in being who and what we are.

Should we retreat back into the closet, of course not we have come to far for that.

But we need to be made more aware and that is where the LGBT press needs to stand up and take accountability. We need more coverage of hate crimes, not less. Bloggers and the LGBT press instead of covering over and over ad nauseum what politicos and the likes of NOM are saying needs to be replaced with bringing to the forefront the crimes against us. The Gay Mafia needs to go after and press authorities to bring justice for those who have been affected rather than silly campaigns against media for the improper use of descriptions or a tongue-in-cheek slight.

It's fine to have these "feel good" stories on websites but it's more important to report, or at the very least, cut/paste articles of violence against LGBTs both here and around the world.

To not do so lulls us into a venerable comfort zone instead of reporting the shocking truth no matter how scarce in this day and age. But then it may not be as scarce as the LGBT press would have us believe with their tinsel choice of articles.

You want to be labeled as "press" then do your job. Report the ugly truth not just the tantalizing body shots to get reader counts and ad clicks up.

You have accepted the job of being journalists, then do it, and not just by cut/paste. Make phone calls, get out on the streets and get answers to questions. Anyone can sit anywhere as this blogger does and highlight a news event. But I'm not paid to do so as I'm a casual writer of opinion.

If you are not up to the task then fold your tents and shutdown your websites.

Wannabee Journalists And de Law

You "citizen journalists" may want to pay attention to this and read the links provide herein.

Our story starts, and with a hat tip to NGBlog for this posting, with the apparent dismay of David Badash purveyor of the blog The New Civil Rights Movement over a tweet from Brian Cuban who twited that "bloggers masquerading as journalists are a blight on the Internet".

Couldn't agree more if I had said it myself.

Contained within NGBlog's link above is a link to an article about a blogger in Oregon who lost her battle for defamation in which she was accused of the preceding offense for her writing about the co-founder of a financial group who she accused of, well shall we say less than honorable intentions. This court decision was written in December of last year but is still apropo for today's lesson.

The judge in the case ruled that the blogger was not a member of the media nor could provide any proof that she was or has ever been a journalist ergo she was not protected under journalist shield laws nor under the First Amendment.

Not all states offer shield laws and even then not all have been updated to include avenues of "new media" including bloggers and the so-called wannabes "citizen journalists" according to an article at Bloomberg Businessweek.

In the judges ruling it reads in part, “… although defendant is a self-proclaimed ‘investigative blogger’ and defines herself as ‘media,’ the record fails to show that she is affiliated with any newspaper, magazine, periodical, book, pamphlet, news service, wire service, news or feature syndicate, broadcast station or network, or cable television system. Thus, she is not entitled to the protections of the law.”

In his judgement US District Judge Marco A. Hernandez ruled that the single post which was at the center of the suit, was indeed defamatory because it was presented, essentially, as more factual in tone than her other posts, and therefore a reasonable person could conclude it was factual according to an article at The Daily Weekly.

So you good folks of Blogdumb and eyes uh joinallist better find out if you are covered in the state you write your blog and learn about the term "absence of malice".

To help those of you who are too damn lazy to pick up a book and read law as it pertains to journalism or are of the generations who believe everything one needs to know comes magically (like putting dirty clothes in the hamper and then they reappear clean in your dresser drawers) into computers, I-pads and other such silliness of this monolithic age of technology watch the video and also get yourself a real job in journalism and then you'll be protected by Fourth Estate laws and have access to attorneys who specialize in such things.

Just because you can write and copy/paste doesn't make you a journalist no matter how many blogs or websites use your material. Someone should clue in David Badash on that little piece of news.