Violating the First Amendment or Taking a Stand?

South Carolina Representative Mike Pitts recently introduced a bill that would require all journalist to register with the State's Secretary of State Office to obtain a journalist position in the State of South Carolina. This bill would amend Title 40 of the South Carolina Code of Laws by adding Chapter 85 also called the "South Carolina Responsible Journalism Registry Law" which states that a person is not competent to be a journalist if they have committed "libel, slander, or invasion of privacy; or a felony if the underlying offense was committed to collect, write, or distribute news or other current information for a media outlet" within three years prior to applying to register or if the person has, as a journalist, "demonstrated a reckless disregard of the basic codes and canons of professional journalism associations, including a disregard of truth, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, and public accountability, as applicable to the acquisition of newsworthy information and its subsequent dissemination to the public". It would require a Journalist and the news outlet(s) they work for to pay a fine up to $500 and jail time if they do not comply with this law.

Pitts mentioned that he felt that there was a bias in the mainstream media, particularly towards the second amendment, and wanted to even the playing field. He said that he did not actually want to create a journalism registry and said "I believe in the free press and I believe in the watch dogs," but wanted to spark a debate on media reactions to legislation attacking the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution compared to media reaction to legislation attacking the first amendment. He pointed out that all of the amendments in the Bill of Rights were equally important and the media should treat it as such.

Critics of the bill say that this is a clear misuse of the House and the ability to file legislation; a waste of time and taxpayer money. In any event, the bill has has a lot of obstacles to overcome and time to pass before it can even be voted on.

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