Pulitzer winners and nominees go to privacy & surveillance state coverage

BTC -  The grave complaint I have had as a tiny blogger in a sea of competitive coverage is that the gravest threats to our everyday sanctuaries were being mistakenly overlooked as a "fringe" or "conspiracy" story - in discussing privacy and mass surveillance.

I remember the day I commented on a WSJ, What They Know story, admonishing them to "go tell it on the mountain" because what I knew to be true would not get as far as it would if they stayed with the train of coverage.  Help had finally arrived.

This year Julia Angwin, Jennifer Valentino and other contributors at the Wall Street Journal were nominated for the highest acclaim in journalism: The Pulitzer Prize. As the results rolled in there was certainly more to this story.  Other awards went to drone strike and conventional war coverage. However, the dawn of a new day in restandardising editorial priorities spoke loud and clear when coverage went to the Associate Press for breaking out a story on the NYPD's covert spying on protestors and muslims engaged in free speech activity.

"We came under relentless attack," Goldman said. "Some people thought they could intimidate us and the AP - and they were wrong."

The blogosphere in the past has given the media a failing grade for complicities and careerist human frailty during times of high political strangeness in the United States.  Not reporting the news on civil libertarian issues was to turn their back on their own right to report and a true moral error.

There has never been a better time in the world to report the truth of what happens in the world than now.  Being an everyday truth teller is not just an intrepid job. It is dangerous to report US news.  There are risks as imposing statements and actions have been taken against both whistleblowers and journalists by the highest levels of government.

Those who chronically compromised the public interests for an elitist VIP pass found it was not worth it and they could no longer do their jobs.  When the economy took a hit and papers began to close, the risks may have been lessened and reporters sought to restore the worth of their profession. Today, the lights are on for those who did not see the message.

As a result of their reinvestment, the deluge of reports on public struggle for digital rights and electronic privacy are now so voluminous, one can no longer hold back the deluge.  It's impossible to manage or absorb it.  In 2009, this was not so.

There is still censorship. There is absolutely more to be done to restore the field for investigative journalism, reduce the blog milling and the reguritated news diet talking points and an escalated need to stop managing International reporting.

However, the Pulitzer going out to the AP and consideration at What They Know for the evolving problem of America's mass surveillance entrapment is a signal to the rest of us.  Those who value news have seen the light.

HURRICANE SEASON: Citizens reporting truth during media blackouts

US history of media blackouts during hurricane disasters increase the cause of citizen journalism

BTC- During Hurricane Ike I was threatened with arrest or citation in an attempt to document DHS practices with citizens. My quest was to find out whether they were forced to forgo any rights because they were in the path of a hurricane disaster.   I was specifically concerned about demand for identity articles in order to gain access to the FEMA hurricane relief center in Round Rock, Texas in 2008, what was in or on their bracelets, what was being asked of  citizens, what their movement limitations were (if any) and how they were being treated. Why would I take such a job on myself?

At this time there was a media black out.  So the only media was citizen media.

So there were no reporters present to document anything of the sort.

Why?

In 2005, paramilitary police were hired by Louisiana's governor to "assist" in the Katrina disaster. Shortly following you may have seen videos of citizens who did lose basic rights and suffered damages.
Among those basic rights, was the 1st amendment right to a free press. There was an attempt to gag or censure CNN from continued reporting of the human conditions in New Orleans after Katrina.

Here is a list of articles compiled by citizens about events surrounding Katrina citing witness of expiditious disposal of unknown dead, police brutality, and illegal search and seizure of guns in a very treacherous time.

So here we are, right in the seat of hurricane season. It might be time to review our rights as citizen jounalists, exactly the type who can make a difference.  One of the G-20 videos shot by a bystander, featured in this video, made a difference in prosecuting police brutality towards a student.  So never doubt your improptu role in using those phone cameras and video cams.

Luckily for all of us, you can take this *free* online course offerred by the Cato Institute on how to watch out for yourself and your rights to document events during a situation where police have hand of force.

Recording the Police: 
Is Citizen Journalism against the Law?

LIVE ONLINE D.I.Y. FORUM

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Noon EST / 11 AM CST/ 9 AM PST 

"Should it be illegal to record the police? Several high-profile cases of police brutality have been exposed by citizens who recorded police actions with cell phones. Yet some state wiretapping laws, written before the age of ubiquitous recording devices, prohibit recording these events and then further criminalize the publication of the recordings on the Internet. Does the First Amendment protect citizen journalism, or do police agents have a right to privacy while performing public duties? Please join us as we discuss this timely and provocative topic."

BeatTheChip seeking volunteer writers, submissions

Got a flair for snooping, investigating and reporting?  Do you have inside information and want to document your findings publicly, while staying private about the surveillance industrial complex?  Do you hate tyrannical monstrous Godzilla sized government with no respect for scared people running around in the streets trying to get through the day?

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