Blog
Daily and Sunday Review — Save federal shield law from limbo
- By: ASNE staff
- On: 06/27/2008 16:11:25
- In: Shield law editorials
The Daily and Sunday Review, Towanda, Pa.
June 25, 2008
A badly needed federal law to provide journalists with the same protections that they have at the state level, in 49 states and the District of Columbia, has broad support in Congress yet is in legislative limbo.
The Daily and Sunday Review, Towanda, Pa.
June 25, 2008
A badly needed federal law to provide journalists with the same protections that they have at the state level, in 49 states and the District of Columbia, has broad support in Congress yet is in legislative limbo.
The Free Flow of Information Act would standardize federal law, providing reporters with the ability not to disclose confidential sources. In the absence of such a standard favoring a free and unfettered press, federal courts in different jurisdictions have reached vastly different conclusions on whether reporters may be compelled to reveal sources. Journalists have been jailed and hit with massive fines for declining to reveal sources.
Journalists rely primarily on named sources and on public information. There are cases, however, where the use of confidential sources is necessary in order to obtain information that is important to the public. Access to that information is in the public interest and serves as a check on corruption.
The bill would provide a “shield” akin to that in every state except Wyoming, under which reporters could decline to reveal sources. It includes a key exception for matters pertaining to national security, when authorities demonstrate, to the satisfaction of a court, that national security is at risk by nondisclosure.
Last year the bill passed the House, 398-21. Later, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed it, 15-4. Yet it has not been brought to the Senate floor for a vote.
The U.S. Association of State Attorneys General supports the bill and has circulated a letter to its members, asking Senate leaders to conduct a vote. So far, Pennsylvania Attorney General Thomas Corbett has not signed the letter.
Pennsylvania has one of the nation’s best shield laws. Mr. Corbett should join the effort to establish a strong federal shield, as well.