RE: KEEPING REPORTERS REINED IN

An airline media-working FBvian begs to differ on my assertion that the Lubbock TV reporter is wrongly charged with a crime:

I have to disagree with you on this one. There’s a difference between investigating and reporting news and deliberately trying to create news – especially if a reporter breaks the law to do it. Granted, this case is borderline at best – it doesn’t appear that the reporter actually attempted to break the law. However, if the reporter had tried to violate TSA security at an airport with a grenade or gun, wouldn’t it be appropriate for her to be arrested? If a journalist is going to try to prove a theory – in this case that security is lax – shouldn’t they live up to the bargain if his or her theory is disproved? Should she have gotten a warning, unlike a “real” criminal? What if the next criminal steals a journalists’ ID to perpetrate a crime by claiming to be an investigative reporter? The gate swings both ways.

Finally, it doesn’t appear that there is any suppression going on. The reporter and station are free to report on everything that happened – no tape or notes were confiscated, right? The story is just that security worked … and here’s how a trial on attempted kidnapping goes down.