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Detroit Free Press - Vote to pass law to shield reporters
- By: ASNE staff
- On: 10/16/2007 15:39:58
- In: Shield law editorials
Detroit Free Press
Oct. 16, 2007
The U.S. House is scheduled today to vote on the Free Flow of Information Act. The bill shouldn't be necessary in a nation where press freedom from government interference is guaranteed in the very first amendment of a remarkably enduring Const
Detroit Free Press
Oct. 16, 2007
The U.S. House is scheduled today to vote on the Free Flow of Information Act. The bill shouldn't be necessary in a nation where press freedom from government interference is guaranteed in the very first amendment of a remarkably enduring Constitution.
But changing times -- and jurisprudence -- have created an unfortunate need for certain protections for journalists, particularly those who report information from unnamed sources. Most states, including Michigan, protect journalists in most cases from being compelled to reveal their sources. Federal law does not.
The rationale for this so-called shield law is simple: In order for journalists to bring important stories to public light, they must be able to do their jobs without fear that they will be coerced into becoming an arm of the government's investigative endeavors. The threat of that happening has been increasing, and it probably reached its peak with the jailing of a New York Times reporter who refused to divulge a source in a high-profile CIA leak investigation.
The bill would write some limited safeguards for journalists into federal law. Most notably, it would require prosecutors to exhaust all other means of obtaining information before trying to force it out of journalists.
Importantly, the proposed law isn't a blanket protection. It would not extend to employees of news agencies owned by foreign governments nor allow a journalist to withhold physical evidence, including recordings, of a crime. But it would restore an important separation between the information-gathering rights of the press and the investigative authority of government. That's what press freedom is all about.
While the founders of this nation could not have foreseen what journalism has become in the electronic age, they knew it would always be important as a means to inform the public. Shield laws simply let journalists do what they are supposed to do -- and that, demonstrably, is a public interest that ought to be protected.