Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Blogger, Texas Ranger?

We know Chuck Norris for many things: action star, Total Gym and Mike Huckabee pitchman, inspiration for a lever on Conan's show, as well as countless jokes.

But is he a journalist?

On the right-wing website townhall.com, Norris is a regular contributor, having written about a column a week for the site throughout 2008. The article that caught my attention was this one about Proposition 8.

Here's some samples of what Norris has to say:

"The truth is that the great majority of Prop. 8 advocates are not bigots or hatemongers. They are American citizens who are following 5,000 years of human history and the belief of every major people and religion: Marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman. Their pro-Prop. 8 votes weren't intended to deprive any group of its rights; they were safeguarding their honest convictions regarding the boundaries of marriage. "

"On Nov. 4, the pro-gay community obviously was flabbergasted that a state that generally leans left actually voted right when it came to holy matrimony."

"Like it or not, it's the law now. The people have spoken."

Townhall.com does not have a corner on the market for celebrity journalists. Semi-regular columnists for The Huffington Post include Harry Shearer and Jamie Lee Curtis.

So, are they journalists because they do somewhat regular writing for news-like web sites?

Is our decision to call them journalists or not skewed because we have seen them in movies or TV shows?

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