Congress Mulls Licensing Speech?

Schumer: Senate has votes for media shield law ... A supporter of a bill to protect reporters and the news media from having to reveal confidential sources said Friday the measure has the backing of the Obama administration and the support of enough senators to move ahead this year. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate, spoke optimistically about prospects for the measure, identifying five Republicans who would join with Democrats and independents on a bill that he said would address a constitutional oversight. While the first amendment protects freedom of the press, "there is no first amendment right for gathering information," Schumer said at The New York Times' Sources and Secrets Conference on the press, government and national security. – AP

Dominant Social Theme: Some free speech is supposed to be more protected than others.

Free-Market Analysis: If it weren't tough enough to distinguish fact from propaganda, the US government is surely getting ready to hand out licenses to "approved" reporting facilities ... sooner or later anyway.

Of course, that's not how it's being reported by these same facilities. They're explaining that it is a "bill" that will address "gathering information." See the above excerpt from the AP for Schumer's eloquent perspective.

The US Constitution – despite its many apparent loopholes – flatly ascertains what the Congress can do to restrict free speech: Nothing. But that particular perspective was contradicted long ago by a series of laws aimed at legislating against "commercial speech" and even against speech that metaphorically shouted "fire" in a crowded cinema.

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