I think CNN just found out the answer to that the hard way. They settled with that Covington kid.

This is yet another reason why for profit media should be taxed like cigarettes and liquor. People like it, it's bad for them, and it costs money to undo the damage it causes.

Plow the money into courses on basic reasoning, civics, and grants to non-profit, independent media so that the people benefit when for profit media pushes a war for profit or racial divison for more ad revenue.

This suggestion befits an authoritarian dictatorship which seeks to control the press and muffle its critics, but it is ill-suited for a people who wish to remain free.

Everyone seeks to ignite racial tensions for personal gain. Politicians, journalists, even a lot of people on HN are out doing it in the comments all the time. But you can't prosecute every jay walker, nor every speeder. That doesn't necessarily mean that you shouldn't punish any speeders.

The problem here is that they are going about it in the wrong way. Issuing a warrant that says, "Well, show me everything this guy ever did, and I'll tell you the crime I want to prosecute him for later."

That's not how most warrants work. Most of the time it's, "We suspect X evidence generated in the commission of Y crime is at Z location". What this does is say, "We need all his data to figure out exactly what crime was committed". That's an ominous warrant.