Some Bloggers Would be Protected Under Proposed Federal Shield Law

Posted on October 25, 2005

Journalists have long lobbied for a federal shield law, which would allow them to protect confidential sources without going to jail. Many states have shield laws, but there is no federal law. A new bill has been introduced in congress. One of the bill's authors, U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, (R-Ind), says that bloggers who actually gather news would be protected under the proposed law.

Pence's view of who would qualify as a journalist under the Free Flow of Information Act differed from the assessment of the bill's co-sponsor in the Senate, Indiana Richard Lugar. Exactly two weeks before speaking at the Inter American Press Association, Lugar said bloggers would "probably not" be considered journalists eligible for the act's protections. Pence said bloggers would likely have to be considered on a "blog-by-blog" basis.
"Frankly, there are some that are out there gathering news," Spence said at Inland's 120th annual meeting. "There are many people though, who just link to your newspapers. It would be hard to argue to anyone that privilege applies to those people just because they have a Web site." Pence asked the Inland publishers to rally their readers around the Free Flow of Information Act. "I believe we have an historic opportunity to close this hole in the First Amendment."
Pence said there was intense interest in the bill on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he noted has held two hearings on the issue at a time when "there have been not one but two Supreme Court vacancies." "This isn't about protecting reporters," he said of the proposed shield law. "This is about protecting the peoples’ right to know."

If they are truly gathering news and acting as journalists, we don't see why bloggers should be treated any differently than journalists that work at a newspaper or magazine. Congress has been talking about this federal shield law for quite some time: we'll believe it will happen the day after it's actually signed into law.