Athens Banner-Herald — Senate should vote to approve federal 'shield law' Editorial

• By: ASNE staff
• On: 07/30/2008 17:36:15
• In: Shield law editorials

Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald
July 27, 2008

Sometime soon, the U.S. Senate will have an opportunity to show the American people the level of its commitment to ferreting out waste, fraud, abuse and other problems within the federal government.

In the coming days, possibly as soon as today, the Senate is expected to vote on its version of a bill already passed in the House of Representatives that would prohibit the federal government from requiring journalists to identify confidential sources. Passing the bill would put the Congress on record as supporting “shield laws” that already are in place in 49 states Wyoming is the sole exception and the District of Columbia. Currently, there is no federal shield law.

To its credit, the House overwhelmingly passed the Free Flow of Information Act of 2007, with a 398-21 vote in October. All of Georgia's House delegation seven Republicans and six Democrats, including Republican Rep. Paul Broun, who represents this part of the state voted in favor of the bill.

In many quarters, shield laws are viewed somewhat erroneously as protection solely for the media, keeping reporters who refuse to reveal their sources out of jail. That's certainly true, but it's also important to recognize that such laws also provide protection to the “whistleblowers” who are a vital part of keeping the government in check and accountable for its actions.

For instance, had it not been for anonymous whistleblowers, the public might never have known about the disrepair and other problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center that certainly compromised the care provided to wounded troops returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Closer to home, it was whistleblowers who brought the media's attention to Georgia's own Fort Benning, where some “warrior transition” quarters, home to at least a handful of soldiers dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, were located within a couple hundred yards of active firing ranges.

A federal shield law would provide whistleblowers and potential whistleblowers with the assurance that their identities would never be revealed, making it more likely that they would be willing to provide information to the media. With a vote in favor of a federal shield law, the Senate would be ensuring that problems within the government they are elected to oversee routinely would see the light of day and could subsequently be addressed.

Thus, a vote in favor of a shield law would be a vote in favor of a better, more effective government. A vote against the proposed shield law would, conversely, work to assure that waste of taxpayer money, or worse, criminal activity, could continue unabated wherever they might be going on within the federal government.

It's clear, then, that the Senate Georgia Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson included should vote in favor of the federal shield law. The public has a right to know what its government is doing, and a federal shield law will be an important tool for bringing what the public needs to know into the open.