Jailed in the U.S. for blogging: Whither the First Amendment? - Salon.com

I have been trying to figure out exactly what to do with this story since last Monday when it came across my feed. The title makes it sound as if it is a simple story but in reality there is much going on. What I find a bit troubling is that this bit of "news" has only popped twice on my feed. It is something that the second article highlights in their introduction.

As a blogger, the headline though is what caught my attention. Although I am no where near the caliber of Shuler, and our methods are different - he investigates and reports, I aggregate and share with some opinion thrown in for good measure - I wondered if what happened to him could happen to myself or other bloggers.

I haven't formulated any type of opinion yet, I wouldn't even know where to begin. Just something to keep in mind as I attempt to create some havoc and chaos,,,
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The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) maintains a list of jailed news workers around the world. Only one name is listed in the Western Hemisphere: Roger Shuler — a blogger jailed indefinitely in the United States.

Shuler, a blogger whose writing about Alabama lawmakers and judicial power players has regularly invited defamation claims, was arrested in October on a contempt charge relating to a defamation suit filed by the son of a former Alabama governor. Shuler’s arrest and detention is an abrogation of First Amendment protections.


Jailed in the U.S. for blogging: Whither the First Amendment? - Salon.com


See also:
Alabama's Corrupt Politics Strand Blogger In Jail -- Indefinitely

This should disturb everyone, from the highest echelons of journalism to the lowest. As Lennard says:

As the Times notes, “Shuler remains in jail, unwilling to take down his posts but also unwilling to hire a lawyer and contest his incarceration in the state courts.” So, indeed, while the blogger is not helping himself, the removal of defamatory blog posts should certainly not be a condition for attaining freedom — least of all in a country where the protection of free speech is constitutionally inscribed.

It isn't that Shuler isn't helping himself. It's that he can't help himself. He's in jail. His computer is at home. He has no resources to hire an attorney and no reason to trust any lawyers across the entire state of Alabama, as Matt Osborne notes:

These blatantly unconstitutional proceedings are exactly the sort of shenanigans that Roger has fearlessly reported for years even as they have quietly become the “new normal” in Alabama justice. Now being held without bond or representation, Shuler is being made into an example todiscourage other Alabama bloggers from reporting on powerful Republican interests in our one-party state. This is a chilling assault on the First Amendment, due process, and the entire body of Supreme Court precedent about prior restraint.

It is fascism come to Alabama wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross