Senate Says Amateur Journalists Don’t Deserve Shield Protection – 1608th Edition
Congress has been working on a federal “shield” law that that allows journalists to protect their sources. This is an important concept, and many states already have local laws on that front. Unfortunately, as the Senate was working on its version of the bill, it’s apparently decided that the law should only apply to professional journalists who make their living that way. If you happen to just write a blog post that exposes some sort of wrong, you’ll have no shield protections. Or if you write for a participatory media site and blow a whistle, again, you’ll have no shield protection for your sources. While not all that surprising (do you really think our Senators understand the value of participatory journalism), it’s still disappointing.
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