real interesting question Bloggers undercut reporters' 1A privilege defense [fs]

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2005 00:07:37 -0500
To: <politech () politechbot com>
Subject: [Politech] Bloggers undercut reporters' 1A privilege defense [fs]


[I meant to send this out last month. It's provocative and raises some
of the hoary who's-a-journalist-and-can-get-creds issues that are
becoming important again. --Declan]



http://daily.nysun.com/Repository/getmailfiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:ArticleTo
Mail&Type=text/html&Path=NYS/2004/12/06&ID=Ar00600

Bloggers Blur the Definition of Reporters¹ Privilege

By JOSH GERSTEIN Staff Reporter of the Sun

     As two prominent Washington journalists struggle to avoid jail time
over their refusal to disclose confidential sources, one of the biggest
obstacles the reporters face is America¹s fastgrowing army of citizen
Web loggers, or bloggers.

     It¹s not that the town criers of the online world are campaigning
to send Judith Miller of the New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time
Magazine to prison. Rather, it¹s the bloggers¹ very existence that
undercuts the journalists¹ legal defense.

     On Wednesday, lawyers for Ms. Miller and Mr. Cooper are scheduled
to appear before a federal appeals court in the capital to argue that
reporters should have a legal privilege not to testify about their
sources under most circumstances. A federal prosecutor investigating
whether the White House leaked the name of a CIA operative,Valerie
Plame, has asked the pair to appear before a grand jury to answer
questions.They have refused.

     The crux of the reporters¹ contention is that the public would be
less well informed if journalists could not promise their sources
confidentiality. However, the proliferation of blogs and bloggers could
represent the Achilles¹ heel in this approach. If Ms. Miller and Mr.
Cooper are entitled to claim special treatment in the courts, so too
could hundreds of thousands of Americans who use the Internet to post
comments about their views on current events.

[...]
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