Bloggers Covered Under New Proposed Shield Law Bill

05/30/09

The purpose of the shield law is to protect journalists in state court from being forced to disclose information regarding their sources. Most states do have a shield law protecting journalists although there is no federal law. The issue was brought to the forefront when Valerie Plame's identity was revealed as a covert intelligence officer during the C.I.A. leak scandal.

Under the current law, professional journalists associated with magazines, newspapers, wire services, press associations, news agencies, radio and television are protected, however the bill will widen the scope and include journalists and their blogs defined as a ''web sites or web pages that contains an online journal containing news, comments and offers hyperlinks provided by the writer.''

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According to a statement issued by Duane, he commented that ''the media is changing, both in content, access and scope. It is important that the laws of New York State reflect the changing landscape of journalism. Enacting this legislation will ensure that those reporters who write for a blog are given the same protections as traditional print or television journalists. If we don't, we face a chilling effect on free speech and journalists' ability to aggressively report the news. It is time New York's shield law reflected the reality of 2009 and acknowledges that blogs do exist.''

Rosenthal maintains that ''New York State has one of the strongest reporters' shield laws in the country. Yet, although blogs provide news to countless New Yorkers, we still do not extend the protection of the law to blogger journalists. We must remedy this by affording bloggers the same rights that we offer other journalists. I call on my colleagues in the Assembly and Senate to support this legislation and the right to free speech.''

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According to Duane and Rosenthal, their bill is one of the first of its kind. They cited an incident last year when blog Room 8, a blog focused on local politics was issued a grand jury subpoena by Bronx district attorney, Robert T. Johnson, in an effort to reveal the identity of several of the site's anonymous bloggers. Subsequently, the subpoena was withdrawn.

Currently, journalist bloggers are already protected under the state's shield law resulting from the 1981 amendments to the statue which was expanded to include ''any professional medium or agency which has one of its regular functions the processing and researching of news intended for dissemination to the public.'' However, many bloggers do not receive compensation for their work and are not protected under the shield law because a professional journalist is defined as an individual who gathers news ''for gain or livelihood.''

According to Lucy A. Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, an organization in Arlington, Va., the term 'blog' used in the language of the proposal might be too broad.' Dalglish defends the First Amendment rights of journalists and suggested that is would be better to expand the definition of the term 'professional journalist' and possibly remove the words 'professional' or 'for gain or livelihood' from the statue as it presently states.

In a phone interview, Dalglish commented that ''blogging is a technology and a method of delivery. Some people are doing valuable journalism when they blog. Others do not. What you are trying to protect is the journalism function, not the technology or the platform.''