US: should bloggers get the same shield law privileges as journalists?

Posted by Val�rie Gazzano on December 13, 2004 at 11:47 AM

Cyberjournalist reports on an interesting initiative taken by First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams, although the results of that initiative will probably be uncertain. "Many bloggers should be entitled to the same protection against revealing sources traditional journalists get under the First Amendment", said Floyd Abrams, one of the most noted First Amendment lawyers around. "I think a blogger who communicates with and tries to communicate with thousands of people is not less deserving than a journalist who may communicate with a smaller audience through a small-town newspaper," the attorney said. "There should be protection so long as information was obtained for the purpose of dissemination to the public at large in some sort of analogous way to what 'journalists' do."

"Still, he said he felt that bloggers who confine their comments to matters of a personal nature should not enjoy any special privilege. Shield laws in 31 states protect journalists from having to testify or turn over their notes to authorities. "The whole issue now is, who is a reporter?" said the president of the Texas Press Association, Wanda Cas. And who decides that?" While the new phenomenon of blogs highlights the potential pitfalls involved in creating a reporters' privilege, courts have struggled for years with privilege claims from people who are not members of the traditional press corps."

Source: Cyberjournalist.net