Joe.My.God. LGBT News
Outrageously unconstitutional on its face, but when has that stopped a teabagger? Via the Associated Press:
South Carolina journalists would be required to register with the government before reporting the state’s news under a bill introduced Tuesday by a Republican state lawmaker.
The proposal would establish a “responsible journalism registry” with requirements that journalists must meet before working for a news outlet in the state. Those requirements weren’t laid out in the bill’s summary, which was available online Tuesday. The measure’s full text has not yet been posted.
Fees could be charged to be listed in the registry, which would be operated by the Secretary of State’s Office. The bill also would authorize “fines and criminal penalties” for violating the law. The bill has been referred to a committee for debate.
Bill sponsor Rep. Mike Pitts, R-Laurens, did not immediately return messages seeking comment on the proposal. Last summer, the former law enforcement officer opposed an ultimately successful push to remove the Confederate Flag from South Carolina’s Statehouse grounds following the slayings of nine black parishioners at Emanuel AME in Charleston.
As it turns out, this is mostly about guns. From the Post & Courier:
Pitts told The Post and Courier his bill is not a reaction to any news story featuring him and that he is “not a press hater.” Rather, it’s to stimulate discussion over how he sees Second Amendment rights being treated by the printed press and television news. He added that the bill is modeled directly after the “concealed weapons permitting law.”
“It strikes me as ironic that the first question is constitutionality from a press that has no problem demonizing firearms,” Pitts said. “With this statement I’m talking primarily about printed press and TV. The TV stations, the six o’clock news and the printed press has no qualms demonizing gun owners and gun ownership.”
Under the bill the Secretary of State’s Office would be tasked with keeping a “responsible journalism registry” and creating the criteria, with the help of a panel, on what qualifies a person as a journalist–similar to doctors and lawyers, Pitts said.
In 2010 Pitts introduced a bill that would have banned “the unconstitutional substitution of Federal Reserve Notes for silver and gold coin” in South Carolina.