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CNN anchors call for crackdown on blogs
Topic Started: Jul 23 2010, 06:11 PM (821 Views)
abb
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There is nothing new under the sun. While reading a bit of media history last night, I ran across the name of Roger L'Estrange.

See here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_L%27Estrange

Quote:
 
In 1663, he published Considerations and Proposals in Order to the Regulation of the Press which urged a strict control of the printing trade.[5] Perhaps for views expressed in this work, which was well received at Court,[6] he was appointed Surveyor of the Imprimery (Printing Press).[7] Thereafter, also appointed Licenser of the Press, he retained both positions until the lapse of the Licensing of the Press Act in 1679.[8] (The latter was not, however, a continuous appointment. At one time, L’Estrange was deprived of his post as Licenser by Joseph Williamson; but when anti-Royalist pamphleteering began to turn the city against Charles II, L’Estrange was recalled to this position.[9])

As Licenser and Surveyor, L’Estrange was charged with the prevention of the publication of dissenting writings, and authorised to search the premises of printers and booksellers on the merest suspicion of dissension.[10] L’Estrange excelled at this, hunting out hidden presses, and enlisting peace officers and soldiers to suppress their activities. He soon came to be known as the “Bloodhound of the Press.”[11]

Careful monitoring and control of nonconformist ideas and opinions succeeded in not only checking seditious publications,[14] but also in limiting political controversy and reducing debate,[15] which was largely the purpose of the Licensing Act of 1662 and Roger L’Estrange’s appointment.


See also.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licensing_of_the_Press_Act_1662
Quote:
 

The Licensing of the Press Act 1662 is an Act of the Parliament of England (14 Car. II. c. 33), long title "An Act for preventing the frequent Abuses in printing seditious treasonable and unlicensed Bookes and Pamphlets and for regulating of Printing and Printing Presses." It was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863.

The Act was originally limited to two years. The provisions as to importation of books, the appointment of licensers, and the number of printers and founders were practically re-enactments of the similar provisions in an order of the Star Chamber of 1637.

Printing presses were not to be set up without notice to the Stationers' Company. A king's messenger had power by warrant of the king or a secretary of state to enter and search for unlicensed presses and printing. Severe penalties by fine and imprisonment were denounced against offenders. The act was successively renewed up to 1679.

Under the powers of the act Sir Roger L'Estrange was appointed licenser, and the effect of the supervision was that practically the newspaper press was reduced to the London Gazette. The objections made to lines 594-599 of the first book of Paradise Lost by the archbishop of Canterbury's chaplain, acting as licenser, are well known. The act expired in 1679, and for the remainder of the reign of Charles II, as in the reign of George III, the restrictions on the press took the form of prosecutions for libel.

The power of a secretary of state to issue a warrant, whether general or special, for the purpose of searching for and seizing the author of a libel or the libellous papers themselves - a power exercised by the Star Chamber and confirmed by the Licensing Act - was still asserted, and was not finally declared illegal until the case of Entick v. Carrington in 1765 (St. Tr. xix. 1030). In 1776 the House of Commons came to a resolution in accordance with this decision. The compulsory stamp duty on newspapers was abandoned in 1855 (18 Vict. C. 27), the duty on paper in 1861 (24 Vict. C. 20), the optional duty on newspapers in 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 38). From that time the English press maybe said to date its complete freedom, which rests rather upon a constitutional than a legal foundation. It is not confirmed by any provision of the supreme legislative authority, as is the case in many countries.


Here's the current book I'm studying.

A Social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to the Internet, by Asa Briggs & Peter Burke

http://books.google.com/books?id=ouBxwQElvVQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=a+social+history+of+the+media&source=bl&ots=RuEP7glhEC&sig=9KURNNxKRp1mK-7S38l_z4S1gCA&hl=en&ei=-FJNTLrZIoH98AaU9oUz&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false
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abb
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Yet more. Here is the full text of the Licensing of the Press Act 1662. It damn near reads word-for-word what came out of the mouths of the CNN clowns last Friday.

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=47336#s8

Here are some of the more interesting sections.

Recital that the regulating of Printers is matter of public Care, and that many have been of late encouraged to print and sell seditious. Pamphlets, &c.

No private Person to print any Book, &c. unless first entered with the Stationers' Company of London; Exceptions; and unless first duly licensed.

Printers of Books, &c. to set their Names thereto, and declare the Name of the Author if required.

No Person to erect a Printing Press or House, or let Premises for Printing, without giving Notice to the Stationers' Company.

Messengers of the King's Chamber by Warrant under Sign Manual or the Hand of Secretary of State, or Master and Wardens of Stationers' Company, with a Constable, may search Houses, &c. for Books, &c. and may demand a Sight of Licence; and seize Books and Offenders.; Justices may imprison.; If Searchers find unlicensed Book which they suspect, they may seize and take it to Archbishop; &c.

Edited by abb, Jul 26 2010, 05:17 AM.
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kbp

Our Emperor should have worked on that act before the mid-term election year.
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kbp
Jul 26 2010, 10:06 AM
Our Emperor should have worked on that act before the mid-term election year.
But whenever anyone dare suggest that the State-Run Media be subject to any control, they squeal like stuck pigs.
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abb
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kbp
Jul 26 2010, 10:06 AM
Our Emperor should have worked on that act before the mid-term election year.
But whenever anyone dare suggest that the State-Run Media be subject to any control, they squeal like stuck pigs.
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Quasimodo

abb
Jul 26 2010, 10:17 AM
kbp
Jul 26 2010, 10:06 AM
Our Emperor should have worked on that act before the mid-term election year.
But whenever anyone dare suggest that the State-Run Media be subject to any control, they squeal like stuck pigs.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4b3c6472-98a0-11df-a0b7-00144feab49a.html

Mr Assange [of Wikileaks] recently told the Guardian that he lived a nomadic lifestyle, carrying a computer in one rucksack and his clothes in another. After keeping a low profile for several years, Mr Assange’s public appearances have recently become more frequent.

He has often criticised traditional media outlets for distorting the truth in their stories, telling an audience at London’s City University in July that he hoped the publication of primary source material online would reduce “lying opportunities”
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abb
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Quasimodo
Jul 26 2010, 10:23 AM
abb
Jul 26 2010, 10:17 AM
kbp
Jul 26 2010, 10:06 AM
Our Emperor should have worked on that act before the mid-term election year.
But whenever anyone dare suggest that the State-Run Media be subject to any control, they squeal like stuck pigs.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4b3c6472-98a0-11df-a0b7-00144feab49a.html

Mr Assange [of Wikileaks] recently told the Guardian that he lived a nomadic lifestyle, carrying a computer in one rucksack and his clothes in another. After keeping a low profile for several years, Mr Assange’s public appearances have recently become more frequent.

He has often criticised traditional media outlets for distorting the truth in their stories, telling an audience at London’s City University in July that he hoped the publication of primary source material online would reduce “lying opportunities”
I certainly don't put myself in this guy's league, but one thing I try to do on my newsblog is put documents, letters, agendas, minutes, etc, etc. And I don't bother trying to get a bunch of quotes from politicians. What they say is not reliable.

But the documents speak for themselves.

Res ipsa loquitor - The thing itself speaks.
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comelately

wingedwheel
Jul 23 2010, 06:31 PM
And I about forgot. The first time I watched that part of the speech the main thing I got out of it was how much the audience seemed to like how Sherrod treated that white person and liked her sending him to "one of his own kind".
In a sense, this is the most important piece of information we get from this whole story: Sherrod herself might have been a rotten egg - but her audience seemed to be very much on her side. Reverse the colors, and imagine the reaction of a white audience! At the very least, she would get a shocked silence...

As for the MSM calling for censorship of the Internet - it simply means that they are scared of the competition - as they should be. Using the power of the State to suppress one's competition is older than the ancient Greece.

Of course, censorship is censorship: once it is introduced for the blogs, networks will not be far behind; but a decent IQ does not seem to be required from a CNN journalist. On the other hand, God willing, Internet will stay free; with a little luck, the dumbest of broadcast journalists might even loose their jobs! :think:
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kbp

Reminds me of the respect I had immediately for the late Kirk Osborn, when he published the court filings so that each could speak for itself (along with our own reliable source early on - JMOO!).
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