Politics

Politics

by Mike Masnick


Filed Under:
journalism, participatory journalism, shield law



Senate's Latest Shield Law Brings Back Protection For Participatory Journalists

from the good-news dept

It looks like the Senate has pushed back on the restrictions that the White House wanted on a journalism shield law. Not only does the new Senate version greatly limit the circumstances under which the White House could get around the law, it also goes back to covering amateur/freelance/citizen/participatory journalists as well. The White House had wanted the right to basically claim which stories wouldn't count for shield law protection (meaning journalists would need to give up their sources). But the "compromise" bill from the Senate will only allow this in cases where the government can show (not just say) that the information is needed to prevent terrorism or substantial harm to national security. That seems a lot more reasonable. Of course, this is only the Senate version and the bill very well might change before it gets approved, but at least it's good to see that it doesn't just create a special class of "professional journalists."

3 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

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  1. Oct 31st, 2009 @ 4:50am
    by Anonymous Coward

    Sadly, without a classification of who is and who is not a journalist, it is likely some wanker will try to hide behind it, and get the whole thing tossed out in court later.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  2. Oct 31st, 2009 @ 9:42am
    by icon johnney (profile)

    When are you fucks going to wake up and realize that every single law the govt creates is simply a ruse to control freedom; while they themselves are then exempt from ALL of those same laws??????

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  3. Nov 1st, 2009 @ 9:54am

    Re:

    by Anonymous Coward

    Because the government is not immune to all law. The law of the People can, and will, rise against them. Keep looking at the populace as a herd of sheeple. There's a reason the founding fathers left us our guns.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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