That’s where we are at the end of the day, today, via Jonathan Adler at National Review:
It appears as if NBC’s David Gregory decided to brandish a high capacity magazine on NBC’s “Meet the Press” even though NBC was informed it would be illegal to possess such a magazine within the District of Columbia, where MTP is filmed. The D.C. police are now investigating. Howard Kurtz dismisses the legal concerns. Gregory may have violated the law, but he was just engaged in a media stunt. ”I don’t think Gregory was planning to commit any crimes,” Kurtz writes — no crimes other than violating D.C.’s gun laws that is. But who cares if it was illegal, it was good TV! Tell that to James O’Keefe who, Kurtz may recall, was prosecuted for his own legal indiscretions when trying to film some stunts of his own. Prosecutors wisely allowed O’Keefe to plea to a minor charge, but he wasn’t let off the hook just because he was attempting act of journalism. Why should David Gregory and his NBC colleagues be held to a different standard?
with a follow up by Jonah Goldberg:
Culturally, one of the things lots of Americans detest about the elite journalistic culture is the idea that reporters are above the law. Usually, this self-regard manifests itself in debates over revealing sources. Many journalists honestly believe they have special rights and privileges not enjoyed by all Americans. As a matter of law and logic, that’s not the case (which is why some journalists want to see the licensing of journalists). We all have the right to commit journalism.This priestly caste attitude manifests itself in other ways as well. Hidden cameras were something to be celebrated when 60 Minutes pioneered them. When grubby bloggers do the same thing, it’s apparently repugnant.Well, the First Amendment is for everyone, not people with degrees from the Columbia J-School. Likewise, the Second Amendment is for everyone. And what laws limit my constitutional right to bear arms, limit David Gregory’s too.And here we have David Gregory breaking exactly the sorts of gun laws he’s advocating….
My end-of-the-day Quickmeme:
Update: Noah Rothman at Mediaite (h/t Instapundit), Gun Control Debate Exposed The Media’s Bias, David Gregory Exposed Their Hypocrisy:
It is hard to recall a moment in recent history in which the gap between members of the media and the public they claim to serve has been so wide as the “national conversation” about stricter gun laws which has followed the tragic shooting death of 26 children and teachers in Newtown, Connecticut. But if the media is slightly – just slightly — out of step with the public regarding their unashamed support for new gun laws, their response to the NBC anchor David Gregory’s recent trials with the law after he brandished a high capacity magazine on television verges on blatant hypocrisy….While many in the nation’s establishment news media display naked contempt for lawmakers who may differ with them on the necessity of more gun laws, the loathing with which they regard the National Rifle Association is unparalleled….L’affaire de Gregory has exposed an unseemly sense of entitlement in the elite media. If the post-Newtown debate over gun control has shown that the media is somewhat out of touch with average Americans, the Gregory episode has revealed that they do not see themselves as average Americans.
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