Like the New York Times, Bob Dole wants to license reporters. Or, more fairly, he wants to license particular reporters in order to grant them immunity from prosecution should they participate in a crime. The vehicle he endorses, Richard Lugar's Orwellian "Free Flow of Information Act,"(pdf) [UPDATE: Link fixed.] is nothing more than a conspiracy between the political establishment and the corporate press to define a class of citizens that have more rights than ordinary Americans. As has already happened in many states, federal politicians propose giving the mainstream media a particular privilege not available to ordinary citizens in the guise of enhancing the "free flow" of information.

Stay with me here through a bit of background...