Federal Shield Law For Journalists Passes Senate Committee
WASHINGTON, DC (December 11, 2009) – Ending months of stalemate and threats of possible amendments, a bill to protect journalists' confidential sources in federal court cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee this week by a 14-to-5 vote.
The Free Flow of Information Act (S 448), more commonly known as a federal shield law for journalists, now goes to the full Senate for a vote, but no timetable has been set. And the Senate will have to resolve the bill against a different version that was approved earlier this year by the House (HR 985).
The National Press Photographers Association has for several years been a part of a broad media coalition supporting legislation that would provide a federal shield law for journalists, and NPPA's Advocacy Committee and general legal counsel have been working with elected officials on Capitol Hill this year to help moved a federal shield law through the process.
The legislation, while being a compromise between Senators and journalism organizations and the intelligence community, now also has the support of Attorney General Eric Holder and the White House. The bill does not give reporters absolute authority to protect sources, as there are exceptions in place for national security concerns.
Just before the Committee sent the bill to the full Senate, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) tried to amend the act to more narrowly limit the definition of who would be covered by the law. The attempts to weaken the bill were turned aside, mostly due to the efforts of Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), one of the bill's sponsors, who was very effective in speaking against the amendment and who voiced many of the concerns NPPA's Advocacy Committee had expressed.
As sent to the Senate, the legislation broadly defines journalists to include bloggers, citizen journalists, and freelancers, language strongly supported by NPPA.
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chair of the Committee and a supporter of the bill, pointed out the "anonymous blogs" of Benjamin Franklin, and said that journalists writing under pseudonyms should not be excluded from the shield law.
The District of Columbia and 49 states have recognized a reporter's privilege either through statute or judicial decisions. These laws have worked well for years. In federal courts, however, there is no uniform set of standards to govern when testimony can be sought from reporters. In June 2008, the Attorneys General from 42 states urged the Senate to act on the legislation. These Attorneys General stated that the lack of a federal standard is “producing inconsistency and uncertainty for reporters and the confidential sources upon whom they rely.”
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