What I learned from First Amendment Debate

I knew that I wanted to pick a first amendment issue that had to do with journalism, and I knew that I wanted to make it about journalists coming into conflict with the US government. This has become very pronounced recently with the advent of the “War on Terror” of the early 2000s where journalists worked hand in hand with the state department in order to effectively get the American people to support new wars in the Middle East. While many news organizations since apologized for their complicity in spreading state sponsored information about those wars, they recently have been victim to the same tactics in their complicity to work with government agencys to push a narrative on the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

I chose my specific topic for the video after doing research into journalists who have been harmed by the CIA for writing specific stories. While there have been many whistleblowers who have had to flea the country for leaking information (Edward Snowden) there are not many journalists who have faced serious consequences. I was interested in the story of James Risen because I think if he reported on Bin-Laden, there could have been serious changes to the history of the United States. But, he made a decision based on a notion that “Journalists shouldn’t harm US operators.” And while this does make sense, it also leads to the question Is it a journalist job to tell the story the CIA wants you to know? I was also interested in the story of Gary Webb because from my research I learned how hard it was for him to report on his story about the CIA and the drug trade and how badly the government did not want this story out there. They also were able to blackball him from a career he would have deserved after reporting on one of the biggest lies and coverups in recent US history. Specifically, because of the implications that story has had in Americans minds of what the CIA really does.