If Arresting Journalists Is Dictatorship Now, What Was January 6?
Written by Peter Boykin on February 1, 2026
If Arresting Journalists Is Dictatorship Now, What Was January 6?
#GoRightNews Shared by Peter Boykin
American Political Commentator / Citizen Journalist / Activist / Constitutionalist for Liberty
If Arresting Journalists Is Dictatorship Now, What Was January 6?
When the Press Discovers the First Amendment Only After It’s Convenient
The TMZ commentator frames the alleged arrest of Don Lemon as proof of an emerging dictatorship, invoking dramatic language, historical fear, and constitutional alarm bells. According to his narrative, the arrest of a journalist for covering a protest is inherently authoritarian and marks a collapse of democracy itself.
https://x.com/TMZ/status/2017261661984604487
That argument collapses under even mild scrutiny.
For years, Americans were told that arrests tied to protest activity were justified, even necessary, when those arrested were politically unfashionable. Journalists, live streamers, independent reporters, and citizen media figures who covered unrest during the January 6 Capitol breach were arrested, detained, charged, or financially destroyed. Many were not embedded with violence. Many were not participants. Many were clearly documenting events.
Where was TMZ then?
Where was this sudden reverence for the First Amendment when journalists were labeled “insurrectionists” simply for being present? When credentials were ignored? When due process was slow walked? When pretrial detention became punishment?
The Constitution does not activate based on political branding. The First Amendment does not belong to legacy media alone. It protects speech, press, assembly, and petition for everyone, or it protects no one.
The TMZ argument rests on a selective definition of journalism. CNN credentials are treated as sacred, while independent journalists are treated as disposable. That is not constitutional reasoning. That is guild protection.
The claim that a church is always open public property is legally false. A church may invite the public, but it remains private property unless explicit permission is granted. The law hinges on consent, not vibes. Journalists do not gain immunity by carrying a camera.
More importantly, the claim that a grand jury indictment proves authoritarian intent ignores how grand juries work. They are prosecutorial tools, not adversarial courts. That reality was ignored when the same system was used against political opponents of the media class. Now it is suddenly outrageous.
This is not a defense of arresting journalists. It is a demand for consistency.
If arresting journalists is wrong, it was wrong before. If it is a threat to liberty now, it was a threat then. A Constitutionalist does not defend freedom selectively. Freedom either applies universally, or it becomes propaganda.
From Capitol Hill to County Courthouses Why North Carolina Should Be Paying Attention
National media frames constitutional crises as abstract. In reality, they filter down into states, counties, and local law enforcement practices. North Carolina is not immune.
In recent years, North Carolina has seen expanded coordination between state authorities and federal agencies during protests, political demonstrations, and public events. While most interactions remain lawful, the precedent set at the federal level shapes local behavior.
If journalists are defined narrowly by corporate affiliation, then independent media in North Carolina is at risk. If presence near protest activity is treated as participation, then live streamers in Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro, and Alamance County face potential criminal exposure for documentation alone.
Local churches, community centers, and private venues routinely host political events. Property rights still apply. Consent still matters. Law enforcement must balance First Amendment protections with trespass law, but the standard must be neutral.
What North Carolina must resist is politicized enforcement. When rules are bent for one group and rigidly enforced against another, trust collapses. When prosecutors chase narratives instead of evidence, communities fracture.
The Constitution was designed to decentralize power for a reason. States act as firebreaks against federal overreach. Local officials must ask hard questions before mirroring national excesses.
Is the person being arrested a journalist, or merely labeled one? Was consent given? Was due process respected? Would the same standard apply if the ideology were reversed?
If North Carolina fails to ask these questions now, it will not matter who sits in Washington later. The precedent will already be set.
The Constitution Does Not Belong to the Media Class
#GoRight with Peter Boykin
They want you scared.
They want you emotional.
They want you to believe that the Constitution only breaks when their people are touched.
The TMZ talking head waves the First Amendment like a panic button, warning of dictatorship, invoking history, even dragging Neville Chamberlain into the frame. But where was this sermon when Americans were arrested for filming January 6?
Where was this outrage when independent journalists were raided, charged, smeared, and financially erased?
The Constitutionalist answer is simple. Rights do not activate based on press badges. The First Amendment does not belong to Donald Trump, CNN, TMZ, or the Department of Justice. It belongs to the people.
If arresting journalists is wrong, it is always wrong. If due process matters, it always matters. If grand juries are flawed tools, they did not suddenly become flawed yesterday.
What we are watching is not the death of democracy. It is the exposure of hypocrisy.
A free press is essential, yes. But a free press includes citizens with phones, independent reporters, live streamers, and voices outside corporate studios. Liberty does not flow from legacy media approval.
A Constitutionalist for Liberty does not cheer arrests. But he also does not rewrite history to protect favored players. The warning signs were there long before TMZ noticed. The question is not whether we saw it coming.
The question is whether we will finally apply the Constitution evenly.
That is what it means to Go Right.
When the media suddenly screams “dictatorship” over the arrest of one of their own, it raises a serious constitutional question that few are willing to ask out loud.
If arresting journalists is dictatorship now, what exactly was January 6?
This episode of #GoRight with Peter Boykin breaks down the selective outrage coming from corporate media, the misuse of the First Amendment as a shield for political privilege, and the dangerous idea that press credentials place someone above the law. We examine how journalists were treated during January 6, how independent reporters and citizens were ignored or punished, and why the media only discovered press freedom when it became personally inconvenient.
From Capitol Hill to county courthouses across North Carolina, this is a reminder that the Constitution does not belong to elites, political parties, or the media class. It belongs to the people.
Watch, share, and decide for yourself whether this is about freedom of the press or freedom from accountability.
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