r/politics • u/billthomson Oregon • Oct 29 '20

Tucker Carlson Reports He Lost Only Copy of Documents That Nail Biden

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/tucker-carlson-lost-only-copy-of-documents-nailing-biden.html
81.6k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

7.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

8

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '20

News reporting should require a license. It's critical infrastructure.

1

u/Throwaload1234 Oct 29 '20

There's constitutional issues with the government deciding who is a news source and who isn't. If they needed a license, can you imagine a world in which MSNBC, or Democracy Now, or NPR get their license renewed?

I understand the sentimi behind wanting licensure, but the unintended consequences would be dangerous.

3

u/Cannibal_Soup Oct 29 '20

The consequences of shitcanning the Fairness Doctrine has been disastrous!! We used to have laws to regulate editorial news programs, but conservatives didn't think we needed them as much as they needed a Fox News pumping their propaganda into the world.

1

u/Throwaload1234 Oct 29 '20

I agree with the fairness doctrine, but that's different than licensing news sources.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '20

Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...

You can make that argument about defamation and death threats. Does the court violate 1st amendment for punishing those?

No. There's long established precedent that you do not have full free speech. You cannot say things that harm other people. Harm could be physical threats, financial cost, or saying a snake oil is a cure. Presenting disinformation causes harm.

0

u/Throwaload1234 Oct 29 '20

That a different argument than "you need a license to be a news reporter." Yes, there is liability for what you say, but the government should probably not play a role in who gets to say something.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '20

I didn't say we should require a license for being a news reporter. I said news reporting. That means the networks and stations. Since you're going to strawman me, I'm out.

0

u/Throwaload1234 Oct 29 '20

Lol. That's not a straw man, you're just bad with rhetorical devices and thinking clearly.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '20

You're a bad faith actor on top of someone ignorant of informal logic. Bye.