] There has been a rule on the books since 1952 requiring
] foreign journalists to obtain special "I visas," but
] foreign journalists say it was invariably ignored by
] Immigration and Naturalization Service officials who
] required only that citizens of friendly countries apply
] for a visa waiver, an exemption allowing most residents
] of 27 enumerated countries to visit the United States for
] business or pleasure for up to 90 days without jumping
] through any INS hoops.
]
] No more. When the INS was folded into the Department of
] Homeland Security in March 2003, the I-visa rule began to
] be enforced in earnest, sometimes, resulting in at least
] 15 journalists from friendly countries being forcibly
] detained, interrogated, fingerprinted, and held in cells
] overnight with most denied access to phones, pens,
] lawyers, or their consular officials.

So, the context here is that if Bloggers are Journalists then Everyone is a Journalist and so everyone must have these visas. I think its troubling that this rule exists at all. Why do we require journalists to have special visas?

Click through to the Slate article for an interesting rant about INS.