Opinion: Federal judge fails to uphold reporter’s privilege

The Atlantic Opinion January 31, 2011 By Garrett Epps A lawyer and former Washington Post reporter says that in Chevron v. Berlinger, a judge with the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals made a bad decision concerning “reporter’s privilege,” a decision that demonstrates the need for a federal shield law. -db

Has Cablegate made the Federal Shield Law a lame duck in the lame duck Congress?

Federal Shield law backer Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says the law won’t protect sites like Wikileaks that “dump data.” Now Congress wants to know who will be covered by this shield? They know Julian Assange does not a journalist make, but these days who does fit the bill? Wikileaks Docs May Have Far Reaching 1st [...]

UNPLUG WIKILEAKS? ENACT A FEDERAL SHIELD LAW INSTEAD

BY PETER SCHEER—-The Obama administration has made no secret of its desire to unplug wikileaks, the whistleblower website infamous for data dumps of classified records. Of the few options available to the government, the best is one that probably hasn’t been considered in this context: enacting a federal Shield Law. How would a Shield Law–a [...]

WikiLeaks case shows need for federal shield law for reporters

The Cincinnati Enquirer argues that the federal shield law now in Congress, while providing for national security and fair trials, will strengthen the media in its quest to hold government and other powerful entities accountability and make it less likely that sources go to “fringe entities” such as WikiLeaks to protect their anonymity. -db Cincinnati [...]

Senate works to exclude leaked war documents from federal shield law

In reaction to Wikileaks’ publication of Afghanistan war documents, Senators Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein are amending the proposed federal shield law to exclude websites that publish leaked government documents without editorial comment. -db Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press August 4, 2010 By Cristina Abello Legislators are amending the federal shield bill, which [...]

Federal court scuttles subpoenas for two years of news coverage of murder investigation and court sessions

A federal judge in North Carolina rejected a request from the defense in a murder trial to force the media to produce public records of news coverage of the case holding that that would shift the burden for the defense from the suspect to the media. -db The Newsroom Law Blog March 18, 2010 By [...]

President earns mediocre marks on transparency

Despite his pledges to bolster open government, so far, according to Clint Hendler of the Columbia Journalism Review, President Barack Obama has only posted modest gains in transparency. -DB Columbia Journalism Review Opinion January 05, 2010 By Clint Hendler In the year since President Obama took office, he has made significant progress on transparency and [...]

Federal shield bill for reporters passes major hurdle

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to send the federal media shield bill to the full Senate after months of debate and amendments. The contentious issue of whether bloggers and other citizen journalists will be covered by the bill has yet to be determined. -DB Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press December 10, 2009 By [...]

U.S. needs federal shield law

The Senate should move forward on a federal shield law for reporters writes an ACLU blogger because such a law strengthens democracy by allowing journalists to reveal government malfeasance without fear of going to jail. -DB American Civil Liberties Union Opinion December 2, 2009 By Sandra Fulton Most people don’t realize that the American government [...]

Federal shield law moving forward in Senate after compromise forged with White House

The federal journalist shield law cleared a major hurdle when the Obama administration cut a deal with the Senate to include freelancers and online journalists. The bill also includes a public-interest balance test so that a judge could weigh the public interest in secrecy against the public interest in disclosure. -DB Reporters Committee for Freedom [...]

Obama administration wants national security exemption in federal shield law

The Obama administration wants the federal shield law now in Congress to force reporters to disclose confidential sources who leak national security information. -DB The New York Times October 1, 2009 By Charlie Savage WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama administration has told lawmakers that it opposes legislation that could protect reporters from being imprisoned if they [...]

Bloggers cut from senate shield law

Under both House and Senate versions of the federal shield law, only employed journalists will be protected. A former Christian Science Monitor editor says the failure to include citizen journalists ignores the reality of the modern era and who provides accurate, up-to-date news. -DB Citizen Media Law Project Commentary September 28, 2009 By Arthur Bright [...]

Bloggers not protected in shield law under consideration in Senate

An amendment to a federal shield bill for journalists ostensibly excludes bloggers and internet journalists. Under the bill now being hammered out in the Senate, to enjoy protection, a reporter may have to be employed by a recognized news organization. -DB Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press September 18, 2009 By Christina Abello An [...]