Monahan is not "a Journalist"

During his sworn testimony yesterday, APS School Board President Marty Esquivel said blogger Joe Monahan was not a "journalist".  Being "a journalist" is Esquivel's prerequisite for being afforded the respect shown to reporters from "newspapers" and "TV stations; TV stations like the ones he represents, or has represented;  the Journal and KRQE.


"Blogger, says it all"  Marty Esquivel offered in response to a question about my protection under the First Amendment.

When pushed, he had to admit his exclusion included one of the most widely read bloggers in the state; Joe Monahan.






When pushed further, he argued, Heath Haussamen, one of the state's most respected bloggers, was not entitled to the protection for "the press".  I am relying on my memory of his indictment of Haussamen; I will bow of course to any contradictory evidence in the not yet available, transcript of his testimony.

Being "a journalist" is Esquivel's prerequisite for entitlement to the protection according to the first amendment to the Constitution, the first in the Bill of Rights, wikilink.

Congress (the APS Board of Education) shall make no law ... abridging the freedom ... of the press.

Including taking it upon themselves to decide who and who isn't entitled to the protection of the First Amendment.

Reporters working for Esquivel's friends like Kent Walz, are of course, "journalists".  They are protected from disparate treatment under the law.  Bloggers are not.

Esquivel and Walz are both recently elected to the Executive Board of the NM Foundation for Open Government and transparency.

Go figure.




photos Mark Bralley