Investigative Reporters (Even Unpaid Bloggers) Closer Than Ever to Legal Protection

by Zeke Turner | 11:50 am, October 31st, 2009

» 1 comment

mills-opener Even as newspapers struggle to find a working business model, these days especially everyone acknowledges the work they have traditionally done — specifically investigative reporting — is essential. So essential, in fact, that investigative reporters deserve protection under the law.

As the Obama administration and lawmakers get closer to agreeing on the terms of a Shield Law, investigative reporters (and even unpaid bloggers) might soon be protected from subpoenas and legal pressure to reveal their sources.

At the end of September, President Obama said that he would oppose a bill that protects reporters who don’t reveal sources that leak national security information from serving prison time.

From the New York Times‘ Caucus blog:

Under the proposed agreement, a so-called media shield law would allow federal judges to quash subpoenas against reporters if they determine that the public interest in the news outweighed the government’s need to uncover the leaker – including, in some circumstances, disclosures of classified national security information …

“We’ve come a long way in these negotiations and have now reached a compromise that strikes the right balance between national security concerns and the public’s right to know,” [Senator Chuck] Schumer said in a statement. “This new version preserves a strong protection for reporters interested in protecting their sources, while also making sure that the government can still do the job of protecting its citizens.”

Investigative reporters need protection now more than ever, but we certainly don’t envy any judge who has to weight the public’s right to know against national security. Sounds like a disaster.

Read Shield Law Compromise Would Protect Reporters and Bloggers [NYT Caucus]

Caucus, Chuck Schumer, New York Times, President Obama, Senator Chuck Schumer, Shield Law

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Though U.S. law provides leadership in its strong protection of journalists in libel cases, it can learn from international examples in other ways, said Toby Mendel, Law Program director of press freedom advocate Article 19. Other countries see the right to information as a basic human right, not a matter of government efficiency or reform. The U.S. could benefit from seeing access to information as a constitutional right, and viewing protection of sources as a right, as some other countries do.

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