Senate Mulls Extending Shield Protection To Bloggers

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

22 July 2005

Following the recent jailing of New York Times reporter, Judith Miller for refusing to reveal her sources to a grand jury, both Houses of Congress are considering almost identical legislation which aims to prevent the US government from forcing journalists to reveal their sources unless such information is necessary to "prevent imminent and actual harm to national security".

However, during a Senate hearing on the legislation on Wednesday, the issue of whether bloggers (or those who keep - sometimes news based - online journals) should receive the same protections as their counterparts in the mainstream media also came under discussion.

According to a News.com report on the hearing, Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) observed that:

"The fact is that there are new and different types of people reporting and making information available to anyone around the world."

Upon being asked whether the protections enshrined in the proposed Free Flow of Information Act of 2005 should be extended to bloggers, New York Times political columnist, William Safire reportedly responded in the affirmative, arguing that:

"I don't think journalism should profess to be a profession. I think the lonely pamphleteer has the same rights as The New York Times."

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