So you want to be a journalist?

[Buxtehude]

Here's a good editorial to let you know what to expect.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Defending the Bill of Rights

By Richard Labunski
Special to The Courier-Journal

Next month, I will return to a college classroom, as I have for 25 years, to teach First Amendment law to journalism students. They will read important cases related to freedom of speech and the press, hear me explain the structure of the court system, and discover how the law has developed over time.

What they will probably not learn is an appreciation and passion for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In these times, their failure to acquire an enduring commitment to defending the values embodied within that document has serious consequences.

My students and the thousands like them at other universities are embarking on no ordinary career. They will assume positions in the media where they will help decide what information to report, set the public agenda, and prepare stories that influence policy decisions and elections.

But they must do more. Only one institution, the press, is granted specific constitutional protection. In the face of growing hostility to news organizations, my students will have a responsibility to explain why journalists are serving the nation's best interests when they expose surreptitious efforts to monitor the phone calls and financial transactions of millions of Americans or defend the right to keep the names of sources confidential.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20060712&Category=OPINION04&ArtNo=607120479&SectionCat=OPINION&Template=printart

[pooja]

1. Hard to voice protection of privacy when everyone has

a blog and a myspace account of everytime they sneeze.

[Buxtehude]

2. And search engines

that bring em right up to your door step.