Who, Exactly, Is a "Journalist"?
This piece discloses that Senator Lugar's proposed "shield law" for journalists would not include bloggers because they're not, well, "journalists."
Says who? Didn't CBS just climb into this briar patch a few weeks ago? How does one define a journalist, after all? What makes Vanity Fair's James Wolcott a journalist (he's on the list at CBS, for example) -- given that he produces thinly sourced opinion pieces -- while Michelle Malkin isn't -- even though she was breaking news on the Air America scandal, based on confidential documents to which she (and one fellow blogger) had exclusive access? Is the magnificent James Lileks covered by the law by virtue of being a columnist for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, even if he only wrote "humor" columns -- and would the privilege cover only material published in the newspaper, or would it extend to his blog, as well?
Those are the kind of determinations that the Lugar law would have to make -- and none too well, I'll bet. Boo.
Says who? Didn't CBS just climb into this briar patch a few weeks ago? How does one define a journalist, after all? What makes Vanity Fair's James Wolcott a journalist (he's on the list at CBS, for example) -- given that he produces thinly sourced opinion pieces -- while Michelle Malkin isn't -- even though she was breaking news on the Air America scandal, based on confidential documents to which she (and one fellow blogger) had exclusive access? Is the magnificent James Lileks covered by the law by virtue of being a columnist for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, even if he only wrote "humor" columns -- and would the privilege cover only material published in the newspaper, or would it extend to his blog, as well?
Those are the kind of determinations that the Lugar law would have to make -- and none too well, I'll bet. Boo.
posted by LadybugUSA at 6:01 PM
3 Comments:
Shame on Lugar. He should know better than to be part of such sloppy legislation.
And I should know better than to comment before reading the original piece:
Sen. Lugar: The stated purpose of the bill (according to the piece) is to afford protections to the press. The press is worthy of such protection because only a free press can report unferreted facts. That's fair.
The blogosphere is exceptionally good at reporting unferreted facts. The concept of a blogosphere scares the pants off of the Chinese government for exactly that reason.
Senator, if the purpose of the bill is to afford freedoms to those who can publish facts unferreted; if the purpose of the bill is to in effect make our nation freer; then why exclude bloggers? Or do you oppose too much freedom?
I completely agree with HouseOfSin (sorry to ruin your reputation). After all it's through a blog post that we first learn that Dick Cheney is a target in the Plame investigation.
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