Reporter Shield Law Approved by Senate Judiciary

[babylonsister]

http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/10/reporter_shield_law_approved_b.html

Reporter Shield Law Approved by Senate Judiciary
By CQ Staff | 3:28 PM; Oct. 04, 2007
By Keith Perine, CQ Staff


The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation Thursday to establish a federal shield law for journalists, but it faces obstacles to Senate passage.

The panel voted 15-2 to approve the bill (S 2035) by Arlen Specter, R-Pa., after grappling with several amendments offered by Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. The committee adopted some of Kyl’s amendments but rejected others.

Proponents of the measure say it is necessary to protect reporters who find it difficult or impossible to obtain vital information about official wrongdoing and other sensitive subjects unless they can promise their sources confidentiality. Opponents argue that a federal shield law could hamstring law enforcement officials seeking to prevent acts of terrorism or uncover unlawful leaks of classified information.

Committee members in both parties were struggling with how the legislation defines a journalist. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., all voiced concerns that the current definition in the bill is overbroad.

The measure defines journalism as “the regular gathering, preparing, collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing of news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public.”

Some House Democrats had also expressed reservations about that chamber’s version (HR 2102), approved the House Judiciary Committee in August. One was that it included too many people in its definition of journalists.

[annabanana]

1. They should NOT be protected when they are lying on behalf

of the powerful, or deliberately disseminating propaganda.

[Wiregrass Willie]

2. That's just about all they do, which is why they want protection n-t