WASHINGTON, DC (July 1, 2008) – More than 40 state attorneys general have told the Senate's majority and minority leaders that they support a federal reporters' shield law, the Free Flow of Information Act (S. 2035), which recognizes a qualified reporter's privilege and brings federal law in line with the laws of 49 states and the District of Columbia.
In a letter from the National Association of Attorneys General sent to majority leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and minority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the attorneys general said that state shield laws have proved the point that a federal law is needed, and that an informed citizenry and the preservation of news information sources are vitally important to a free society.
"By affording some degree of protection against the compelled disclosure of a reporter's confidential sources, these state laws advance a public policy favoring the free flow of information to the public," they wrote. "An overwhelming consensus has developed among the states in support of this public policy, and United States Justice Department guidelines, on which the current legislation is largely modeled, likewise recognize the interest in protecting the news media from civil or criminal compulsory process that might impair the news gathering function."
The Free Flow of Information Act has broad bipartisan support, and the Senate Judiciary Committee passed it in October 2007 by a vote of 15-4. The House of Representatives have passed a similar measure by a vote of 398-21.
"By exposing confidences protected under state law to discovery in federal courts, the lack of a corresponding federal reporter's privilege law frustrates the purposes of the state recognized privileges and undercuts the benefit to the public that the states have sought to bestow through their shield laws," the lawyers wrote.
"As the states' chief legal officers, Attorneys General have had significant experience with the operation of these state-law privileges; that experience demonstrates that recognition of such a privilege does not unduly impair the task of law enforcement or unnecessarily interfere with the truth-seeking function of the courts."
The letter concluded with the group urging the Sentate to pass the federal shield law to enact legislation that would "harmonize" federal law with state law.
The National Press Photographers Association's Advocacy Committee has been encouraging the passage of a federal shield law for journalists for the past few years.
