DHS wants program to track journalists, readers, talkers

Sun-Times Staff

The Department of Homeland Security wants to track the comings and goings of journalists, bloggers and other “media influencers” through a database.

The DHS’s “Media Monitoring” plan, which was first reported by FedBizOpps.gov, would give the contracting company “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.”

The database would be designed to monitor the public activities of media members and influencers by “location, beat and influencers,” the document says.

The chosen contractor should be able to “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 influencer.”

https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/homeland-security-to-compile-database-of-journalists-and-media-influencers/

Link at http://www.woodpilereport.com/

DHS spokesman said it’s nothing new and something DHS has been doing for years.