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Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram – Reporter's shield law protects the public, not just reporters
- By: ASNE staff
- On: 10/23/2007 17:11:45
- In: Shield law editorials
In some cases, media members should be allowed to protect a source's identity.
Portland (Maine) Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram
Oct. 18, 2007
- A law that allows a reporter to promise confidentiality to a source sounds like something that would only be of
In some cases, media members should be allowed to protect a source's identity.
Portland (Maine) Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram
Oct. 18, 2007
- A law that allows a reporter to promise confidentiality to a source sounds like something that would only be of interest to a leaker or a leakee.
But it really is something that affects everyone in a democracy where the people are expected to make informed choices.
The U.S. House of Representatives gave overwhelming support Tuesday to a bill that protects reporters in some circumstances from being jailed for refusing to reveal the identity of a source.
The bill heads over to the Senate and then the White House, where President Bush has promised to veto it. The House vote of 398-21, however, indicates that this bill has a chance to become law despite the president's opposition.
The shield law does not offer blanket protection. A reporter fighting a subpoena would have to go before a judge and justify the decision to keep a source's name secret.
Reporters would have to turn over information if it was critical to a criminal investigation, prevented an act of terrorism or if the release of information had harmed national security.
What a shield law would do is stop the government from using subpoenas to bully potential whistle-blowers into silence. Anyone interested in what the government is up to -- and that should be everybody -- should want to prevent that.
If a reporter cannot promise confidentiality, even in cases where the information is never published or is later confirmed with on- the-record sources, the only news about the government will be what comes from the government itself.
A shield law is a small but important step toward keeping that from happening.