Department of Homeland Security to Start Tracking Journalists, Bloggers, and Others

This is very, very, very, very, very, very, very not fucking good:

Department of Homeland Security to compile a media database because everything is really that terrible, folks https://t.co/K4BisBsxkp

— Jessica Mason Pieklo (@Hegemommy) April 6, 2018

From the article at Forbes by Michelle Fabio:

[T]he United States government, traditionally one of the bastions of press freedom, is about to compile a list of professional journalists and "top media influencers," which would seem to include bloggers and podcasters, and monitor what they're putting out to the public.

...As part of its "media monitoring," the DHS seeks to track more than 290,000 global news sources as well as social media in over 100 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, and Russian, for instant translation into English. The successful contracting company will have "24/7 access to a password protected, media influencer database, including journalists, editors, correspondents, social media influencers, bloggers etc." in order to "identify any and all media coverage related to the Department of Homeland Security or a particular event."

"Any and all media coverage," as you might imagine, is quite broad and includes "online, print, broadcast, cable, radio, trade and industry publications, local sources, national/international outlets, traditional news sources, and social media."

The database will be browsable by "location, beat, and type of influencer," and for each influencer, the chosen contractor should "present contact details and any other information that could be relevant, including publications this influencer writes for, and an overview of the previous coverage published by the media influencer."

One aspect of the media coverage to be gathered is its "sentiment."

...The real question, of course, is what the government plans to do with the information it compiles, and there's been no comment on that beyond what is in the posting, which, by the way, has interest from at least seven companies. Will those on the DHS media database be questioned more harshly coming in and out of the country? Will they have trouble getting visas to go to certain countries for their own reporting or personal vacations? Worse?

...If you think the idea of the U.S. government's compiling and monitoring a list of media professionals and "top media influencers" is a potential threat to democracy, now would be the perfect time to call your local and congressional representatives to let them know how much you value a free press and the freedom of speech, just in case they've forgotten.

MAKE YOUR CALLS.

It gets more frightening to do this job every day. That is not an exaggeration. I feel an increasing lack of safety that I never felt even during the Bush administration. The truth is, I am a vocal feminist dissident, who is married to an immigrant, and I am scared.

Still. I thought about what it might mean even to post this and register my criticism of it, and a chill ran through me, and then I posted it anyway.