Washington court rules YouTubers aren’t members of the news media

The Washington State Supreme Court rules that YouTubes are not a member of the “News Media,” and therefore do not qualify for press privileges. The ruling shows how existing legislation works against individual and independent journalists whose medium is online platforms.

In the Green vs. Pierce County case, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that the YouTuber is not a member of the “News Media.” Green runs a news YouTube channel called “Liberty’s Champion,” which has more than 18k subscribers. He submitted a public records request to Pierce County after he had a disagreement with a security guard employed by the county. The purpose of the request was to get more information about the county’s security force.

We obtained a copy of the case documents for you here.

The county obliged to the request, but did not submit all the records Green requested. He requested all the records, arguing that as a member of the news media, he was entitled to the information. The county still refused his request.

So he sued the county at the district court, which ruled in his favor. The county appealed at the supreme court, which ruled against Green.

The states laws define “news media” as:

“Any newspaper, magazine or other periodical, book publisher, news agency, wire service, radio or television station or network, cable or satellite station or network, or audio or audiovisual production company, or any entity that is in the regular business of news gathering and disseminating news or information to the public by any means, including, but not limited to, print, broadcast, photographic, mechanical, internet, or electronic distribution.”

From the definition, it is clear the statute has not been updated to keep up with the current times. While Green’s channel fits the definition of news media, it is disqualified by the phrase “entity,” whose legal definition, according to the court, should be interpreted to fit the traditional news outlets included in the statutes. Unfortunately, the list only includes organizations, not individuals.

Keep reading

Israel Narrative Management Is Getting Incredibly Desperate And Brazen

The National Director Emeritus for the Anti-Defamation League has announced on Twitter that he is cancelling his subscription to The New York Times, claiming that a front-page story featuring the photos of children killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza this month constitutes “blood libel” against Jews.

“I am cancelling my subscription to NYTimes,” tweeted Abraham Foxman. “I grew up in America on the NYT- I delivered the NYT to my classmates- I learned civics- democracy and all the news ‘fit to print’ for 65 years but no more. Today’s blood libel of Israel and the Jewish people on the front page is enough.”

Foxman’s statement drew criticism from all corners, including from loyal establishment pundits like Jonathan Chait, for his ridiculous assertion that merely humanizing Palestinian children killed by Israel is the same as promoting the ancient antisemitic canard known as blood libel.

Supporters of Israeli apartheid and mass murder are losing control of the narrative, which has led to redoubled perception management efforts ranging from the cringey to the iron-fisted. In the former category we’re seeing them pen entire articles attacking Seth Rogen for tweeting a fart emoji at virulent Israel apologist Eve Barlow and claiming that putting “fart” in Barlow’s name is the same as a literal pogrom. In the latter category they’re blowing up entire press offices and arresting Palestinian journalists. This is narrative management at its least subtle.

Keep reading

New York Times COVID Reporter Says It’s “Racist” To Discuss Wuhan Lab Leak Theory

A New York Times reporter who specializes in COVID-19 coverage tweeted that it was “racist” to even talk about the Wuhan lab leak theory.

The lab leak issue has received a wave of attention following the Biden’s administration’s announcement that a 90 day investigation would be conducted into its veracity.

The NYT itself also reported yesterday that the U.S. intelligence community has been sitting on a “raft” of evidence pertaining to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

However, Apoorva Mandavilli, who in her bio says she reports for the NYT “mainly” on COVID, asserted in a tweet that even discussing the issue was “racist.”

“Someday we will stop talking about the lab leak theory and maybe even admit its racist roots. But alas, that day is not yet here,” tweeted Mandavilli.

Keep reading

USA Today censors high school girl’s essay about biological males taking over her sport

Chelsea Mitchell was a high school track athlete in Connecticut. Her scholastic track career was cut short when two biological males who identify as transgender joined women’s high school athletic competitions and literally ran away with all the top medals and accolades.

Mitchell wrote about her experience for USA Today in an opinion column, using the language that best described that experience, and using the word “male” to describe the biologically male athletes who identify as transgender. After the article was published, USA Today scrubbed Mitchell’s words, replacing the word “male” with “transgender.”

This completely belied Mitchell’s intention. Mitchell wrote about being crouched and ready to race on the starting line, “ranked fasted high school female in the 55-meter dash in the state,” and knowing she should feel confident.

“Instead,” she wrote, “all I can think about is how all my training, everything I’ve done to maximize my performance, might not be enough, simply because there’s a runner on the line with an enormous advantage: a male body.”

USA Today updated that to read “transgender runner,” citing as they did so that “This column has been updated to reflect USA TODAY’s standards and style guidelines.” They add further insult to Mitchell and her testimony by saying “We regret that hurtful language was used.”

They made these changes throughout Mitchell’s column. Mitchell knew that she was running against an athlete with a male body and all the advantages that this person’s male body brought with it in terms of raw strength, muscle mass, and bone density.

Keep reading

Vox Stealth Edits March 2020 Article “Debunking” Lab Origin Of COVID

Left-wing website website Vox has been caught stealth editing an old article from March 2020 “debunking” the lab origin of COVID following numerous prominent officials now saying the lab origin is a distinct possibility.

Writer and investor Paul Graham documented the edits, tweeting, “Some of the stealth edits that Vox made to its article debunking “conspiracy theories” that Covid-19 originated in a lab leak between its original publication in March 2020 and now.”

The edits include removing the words that the virus definitively did “not come from the Wuhan lab” and saying that the fact the virus emerged in the same city in which the lab is located “appears to be pure coincidence” rather than the previously more definitive “is pure coincidence.”

Keep reading

WaPo Head ‘Fact Checker’ Glenn Kessler Heckled Over Lab-Leak Flip-Flop

With the COVID-19 ‘lab leak’ theory finally gaining mainstream legitimacy following recent reports from the Wall Street Journal, and an admission by Anthony Fauci that he’s now open to the possibility, formerly smug establishment ‘fact checkers’ are now scrambling to salvage their reputations after categorically dismissing a lab leak as a ‘debunked conspiracy theory.’

The latest ‘fact checker’ to bend the knee is the Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler – who last year issued a snarky tweet to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in response to Cruz accusing WaPo of “abandoning all pretenses of journalism to produce CCP propaganda” in response to Kessler promoting a video suggesting that an accidental lab leak was ‘doubtful.’

We deal in facts, and viewers can judge for themselves,” Kessler sniped at Cruz.

Fast forward one year, and Kessler is the proud owner of a highly ratio’d tweet after being forced to eat crow over his ‘fact checking’ with a new article entitled “How the Wuhan lab-leak theory suddenly became credible.”

Keep reading