I’m guessing Joe didn’t see the comments at the post he linked on a new GOP congresswoman allegedly on the cusp of sponsoring anti-blogger legislation. Commenters at AmericaBlog, not content to disagree with this unconfirmed news, have started throwing the worst insults at the new congresswoman. Such as “Tell that C*** to read the Constitution” (the asterisks really helped), “She is so hideous that she could be the poster child FOR abortion,” “She is a poster child for 40th trimester abortion!!!” In response to one commenter’s request to leave the personal attacks out, another says “typical repub crybaby – rules make you crabby? change them” and continues “her face is a sphincter.” Of course, I can’t blame John Aravosis for commenters. But he’s way out on a limb saying this one congresswoman’s alleged legislation runs all the way to the top: “Just like the new GOP leadership, if you can’t beat ’em, censor ’em.” Blogs are frequently criticized for posting rumors; I think the criticism is usually overblown, because many bloggers are also cautious when linking such information, warning readers it hasn’t been confirmed. As far as I can tell Aravosis is taking this as confirmed. He might start instead by looking at current bipartisan media shield legislation in Congress, then ask the sponsors if bloggers are covered. He wouldn’t like the answer.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.