Well, it appears that effective yesterday the CIA has changed the Freedom of Information Act guidelines to snub bloggers. They have taken the position that media is only media if they are getting paid. So, I guess 98% of the bloggers out there are left in the cold.
1. The authority citation for part 1900 continues to read as follows:
Authority: The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), as amended (5
U.S.C. 552); the CIA Information Act of 1984 (50 U.S.C. 431); sec.
102 of the National Security Act of 1947, as amended (50 U.S.C.
403); and sec. 6 of the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949, as
amended (50 U.S.C. 403(g)).
…and…
Representative of the News Media refers to any person actively
gathering news for an entity that is organized and operated to publish
or broadcast news to the public. The term “news” means information
that is about current events or that would be of current interest to
the public. Examples of news media entities include television or radio
stations broadcasting to the public at large, and publishers of
periodicals (but only in those instances when they can qualify as
disseminators of “news”) who make their products available for
purchase or subscription by the general public. These examples are not
intended to be all-inclusive. Moreover, as traditional methods of news
delivery evolve (e.g., electronic dissemination of newspapers through
telecommunications services), such alternative media would be included
in this category. In the case of “freelance” journalists, they may be
regarded as working for a news organization if they can demonstrate a
solid basis for expecting publication through that organization, even
though not actually employed by it.
Ah, no love. Read the full article over on Cryptome.
[tags]CIA, FOIA, Blogging, Media[/tags]