Star — Shielding your right to know

• By: ASNE staff
• On: 08/05/2008 16:59:12
• In: Shield law editorials

The Star, Shelby, N.C.
August 1, 2008

United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, should give the Free Flow of Information Act a floor vote before the Senate goes into recess in another month.

H.R. 2102 is also known as the federal reporter's shield law. It was written by Rep. Mike Pence, R-Indiana. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana, wrote a companion bill in the Senate, which Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Indiana, joined as a co-sponsor.

Failure to receive a vote would require the concept to go through the entire legislative process again starting in 2009. The bill's trek began last year, with the U.S. House of Representatives approving Rep. Pence's proposal on a 398-21 vote on Oct. 16, 2007.

It's supported by more than 40 state attorneys general, including North Carolina's Roy Cooper and South Carolina's Henry McMaster.

Protection offered by the federal law would not be as broad as what exists under similar state laws, but it's still important that the federal legislation be passed. It could help bring vital information into public light and scrutiny.

Contrary to what some opponents may contend, Rep. Pence's bill isn't about protecting reporters, but protecting the public's right to know.

In a commentary piece for The Washington Post, Rep. Pence and Sen. Lugar wrote: “Most of the provisions in our bill come directly from internal Justice Department guidelines instituted more than 30 years ago during Richard M. Nixon's presidency. Strengthened in the 1980s, the guidelines have been maintained by Republican and Democratic administrations ever since. With the alarming rise in the number of reporters being threatened with jail, it's time to put these guidelines into law ...”

Presumptive presidential candidates Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have both indicated support of the Free Flow of Information Act. That's good news.

Why is the legislation important? Because reporters have increasingly been asked by federal judges to reveal their sources.

“Sadly, today the free and independent press in America is under fire,” Rep. Pence said in a July 18 speech on the House floor. “In recent years, more than 40 journalists have been subpoenaed, questioned or held in contempt for failure to reveal their confidential sources. For a journalist, maintaining an assurance of confidentiality to a source is sometimes the only way to bring forward news of great consequence to the nation. Being forced to reveal a source chills reporting of the news and thereby restricts the free flow of information to the public.”

Rep. Pence added he contends the “only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press.”

We agree and therefore urge Reid and McConnell to bring the Free Flow of Information Act to a Senate vote before the Senate goes into recess.