Watchwoman:  Attn: Bloggers – We better start thinking about lobbying Congressmen and our State Legislators to design and pass legislation to protect bloggers with the same status as journalists! Read the following chilling decision made by a Montana judge.  Think this is just another avenue to shut down the alternative UNCONTROLLED media — bloggers?  I do!  If you don’t, it’s likely because you idolize Brian Williams and those commie-controlled media hacks who get paid big buck$ to follow the party line of the DC Oligarchy.  ▬  Donna Calvin

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By JEFF BARNARD
Associated Press

A federal judge in Oregon has ruled that a Montana woman sued for defamation was not a journalist when she posted online that an Oregon lawyer acted criminally during a bankruptcy case, a decision with implications for bloggers around the country.  Crystal L. Cox, a blogger from Eureka, Mont., was sued for defamation by attorney Kevin Padrick when she posted online that he was a thug and a thief during the handling of bankruptcy proceedings by him and Obsidian Finance Group LLC.  U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez found last week that as a blogger, Cox was not a journalist and cannot claim the protections afforded to mainstream reporters and news outlets.  Although media experts said Wednesday that the ruling would have little effect on the definition of journalism, it casts a shadow on those who work in nontraditional media since it highlights the lack of case law that could protect them and the fact that current state shield laws for journalists are not covering recent developments in online media.

Read More: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BLOGGER_DEFAMATION_SUIT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-12-07-20-39-18