What was called a tech's lookout had been created for him, basically saying, we're keeping an eye out for this guy.

When he comes to the border, stop him, do a search, and seize his electronic media.

At the border, being an American citizen won't protect you or your electronic devices.

From WNYC in New York, this is On the Media. I'm Bob Garfield.

News organizations rely heavily on freelancers to report from Syria, but they're not prepared to foot the bill.

These hurdles are designed to protect not the freelancers, but the corporation who are desperate for news, but also really keen to make sure that they are liable for as little as possible.

And breaking the story about the NYPD surveillance of Muslims.

We got a hold of a couple thousand pages of their internal police files,

but it was the denial, actually, that made us more interested

and drove us to keep reporting because it was like, wow, what else don't we know?

All that plus why we're looking at cats on the internet after this.

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From WNYC in New York, this is on the media.

Brooke Gladstone is out this week.

I'm Bob Garfield.

Could it have been only a week ago we were noting how the Syria debate had been so thoroughly, thoughtfully, and

skeptically presented by the news media, shedding light and questioning the assumptions on all

the arguments for and against intervention.

This week looked a little different as the various parties showed up on major media

venues to make their case more or less directly to the public,

...