Shield laws-editorial-PG

==Public shield: The people benefit from protected news sources==
: Sunday, October 14, 2007, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 
====This is National Freedom of Speech week and legislators in Harrisburg and Washington have a chance to enhance that freedom.====
In the state Capitol on Monday, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, citizens and lawmakers will hold a press conference to jump-start efforts to pass a significant expansion of the state's antiquated Right-to-Know law.
In the nation's Capitol on Tuesday, the U.S. House is expected to vote on a federal shield law, designed to protect journalists from being forced to disclose confidential sources.
The use of confidential sources is not nearly as common as it seems from watching movies or television programs, but there are times when the only way to obtain important information -- information that benefits the public -- is by getting it from a source who fears reprisal or retaliation for disclosing it. Celebrated recent instances include news reports about unsafe and deteriorating conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the existence of secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe for terrorists, the National Security Agency's secret telephone call database, and rampant steroid abuse in Major League Baseball.
When reporters conducted the first interviews for those stories, they likely had no way of knowing where their investigations would take them. They certainly had no way to predict that they might wind up in court over them, and if they did, whether it would be in state or federal jurisdiction. But that can make all the difference.
Reporters are protected under shield laws in 33 states, including Pennsylvania, and as a result of court precedent in another 16 states. That protection does not extend to cases in federal courts, however. And, according to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the use of federal court subpoenas is becoming more commonplace, with a reporter's notebook now the first place to look rather than being the source of last resort.
The federal shield law would flip that thinking over, requiring a judge to conduct a balancing test. A journalist could be compelled to testify only when there is evidence that the party seeking the information has exhausted other sources and the testimony is essential.
If sources become too afraid to talk with reporters for fear their confidentiality will be compromised, the inevitable outcome is a roadblock on the flow of information to the public. Congress can prevent that by passing this law.
First published on October 14, 2007 at 12:00 am
==Links==
* Shield laws
category:Planks_from_elsewhere