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REPUBLICAN & Herald — Shield law for journalists needs senators’ support

After passing the House by an overwhelming vote of 398-21, a bill to create a federal shield law for journalists has moved to the Senate. There, the House bill or a separate Senate version should get the same high level of support.

REPUBLICAN & Herald, Pottsville, Pa.

After passing the House by an overwhelming vote of 398-21, a bill to create a federal shield law for journalists has moved to the Senate. There, the House bill or a separate Senate version should get the same high level of support.

REPUBLICAN & Herald, Pottsville, Pa.
Feb. 20, 2008

Shield laws, which are on the books of most states (Pennsylvania has one of the strongest), enable journalists to protect the confidentiality of sources and, therefore, to inform the public about legitimate subjects of public interest that otherwise might be kept under wraps to protect narrow interests.

The law passed by the House, and the separate version in the Senate, include strong exceptions for legitimate national security matters.

A free press is a bulwark of a democratic society. Putting reporters under the thumb of subpoena-wielding prosecutors is the opposite of press freedom, and an impediment to the free flow of information to the public.

Sens. Bob Casey Jr. and Arlen Specter should be in the forefront of the effort to pass the bill in the Senate.

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