Time for a U.S. shield law for journalists
A short, sweet and right-on-the-money editorial from Steve Safran over at the Lost Remote blog says:
The job of a good press is to question power. That doesn’t mean to be negative. It means simply questioning, investigating and reporting.
… Doctors have immunity. Lawyers have immunity. They have long been recognized as contributing to the greater good by their access to privileged information.
At issue: Reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams face a jail sentence because they wrote this article that clearly shows they had access to grand jury testimony. Grand jury proceedings in the U.S. are secret, for various reasons.
A federal shield law would prohibit judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers from coercing journalists to reveal the names of their confidential sources. Read more at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press site.
Technorati tags: journalism | law | press freedom
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