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Daily Camera — The need for a shield law
- By: ASNE staff
- On: 09/10/2010 09:10:00
- In: Shield law editorials
Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.
August 29, 2010
Free press relies on protecting sources
We`ve been urging the full Congress to pass a federal media shield law for years. The time is now. A shield law would create consistent rules for judges at every level in every state to ensure that the public`s right to be informed is protected.
Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.
August 29, 2010
Free press relies on protecting sources
We`ve been urging the full Congress to pass a federal media shield law for years. The time is now. A shield law would create consistent rules for judges at every level in every state to ensure that the public`s right to be informed is protected.
The House has passed a shield law in March 2009. The bill being considered by the Senate, the Free Flow of Information Act (S. 448), has been crafted over six years to address national security concerns. There are provisions, for instance, for the government to thwart a possible terrorist attack. A bipartisan majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill in December, but we must urge the full Senate to hold a vote on the bill before the end of the 111th Congress.
We are more aware than most people that the business of news reporting is changing -- it seems our state`s flagship university may not even want to call it "journalism" anymore, even if remains just that. But some things remain constant: A free press is protected by the First Amendment, and newsgathering requires trained journalists who rely on laws including libel laws, and their sources -- some of whom must not be turned over to the government -- to inform the citizenry.