White House Endorses Federal Shield Law For Journalists

 

WASHINGTON, DC (November 6, 2009) – A letter signed by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Director of National Intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday is the Obama administration's first public presidential endorsement of a federal shield law for journalists.

The new bill being considered now gives a more broad definition of who will be considered as a journalist protected by the law, revising previous language so that now someone who is not a salaried employee of a media company, but who is gathering news for the purpose of disseminating the information to the public, will be covered. The new language also includes covering online journalists.

A full markup of the revised legislation that is pending in the Senate is expected to take place in the Senate Judiciary Committee on November 19.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), said a compromise has been reached between the bill's sponsors and the Obama administration, and that those who had threatened to block the bill back in September had been waiting for a "views letter" from the White House before proceeding. Now that the president has weighed in on the bill, Leahy said, they can move forward and a Justice Department oversight hearing can take place on November 18, the day before the markup.

In the bill's new language, journalists would be required to show “clear and convincing evidence” that revealing source materials would be against the public interest in a criminal case, while in non-criminal cases the party seeking the information has the burden of showing that disclosure is in the public interest.

A national security exception exists if the information “would materially assist the Government in preventing, mitigating, or identifying the perpetrator of an act of terrorism or other significant and articulable harm to national security.”

NPPA is a member of a media coalition that supports a federal shield law for journalists and supports the compromise language of this bill. The coalition is setting up meetings for next week with Senate Judiciary Committee staff members to express the coalition's support for the compromise language and to answer any questions in an effort to make sure the Senators are comfortable with the new legislation. NPPA's Advocacy Committee and legal counsel have been supporting efforts to gain a federal shield law for journalists for several years now.

 

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