Very few occupations are constitutionally protected. Journalism is one of them. The first amendment says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

It’s easy to take these freedoms for granted. Last night, I helped judge the second annual trivia bowl for the Asian American Journalists Association. The competition consisted of teams from various media outlets around the D.C. area.

One of the questions asked the teams (of up to 10 people) to name the five protections in the first amendment. Check out which freedom The Washington Post team missed:

The team captain’s name has been removed to protect the guilty.

At least their opponents on the washingtonpost.com team got it right.

More on: newspapers