MMMM # 532 HUlk Hogan's privacy, and Trump's Pen.

Do actual real journalists have to worry about the huge Hulk Hogan jury award?

 The First Amendment doesn’t protect free speech because it is a source of profit. It protects free speech because it is essential to freedom and democracy. The exposure of a sex tape has little to do with giving people freedom. If anything, disclosures about people’s private lives inhibits them and curtails their freedom. Sex tapes and nude photos don’t contribute much to political discourse and discussion.

                                                         Daniel Solove, in the NY Times

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MY PRIMARY THOUGHTS
     Journalists can not repeat often enough the roll of primary elections in the process of selecting elected officials. They are party elections. The party makes the rules. They could just as easily hold a private closed-door smokey back-room gathering and use straws to pick their candidate. 
     Frankly, I'm not sure if they would even be prohibited from outright discriminatory voter qualifications. Their party, their rules. But since most primary elections are paid for by taxpayers, they have to follow election rules. 

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DONALD TRUMP WATCH

The media relationship is defined by power, and as the power of traditional media ebbs, the relationship between journalists and those they cover is redefined.

                      Joel Simon at Columbia Journalism Review

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular longstanding feature of www.timlennox.com]