'Shield' For Bloggers Under Attack From Bush Administration

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Part of the proposed Free Flow Of Information Act would shield bloggers from having to reveal their sources to authorities. The Bush Administration is opposed to the idea.

The administrations complaint is that the bill's definition of a blogger could be interpreted as anyone who posts anything on the web. Shield laws are on the books to protect journalists in 49 out of 50 states, but it is unclear whether those laws extend to bloggers and neither bloggers nor journalists are shielded from federal prosecutors under current law.

The new shield statute defines journalism as "gathering, preparing, collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting or publishing of news or information that concerns local, national or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public."

Should this act pass, it will no doubt be a frustration for the Justice Department to make sense of and will no doubt end up at the Supreme Court eventually.

Further Reading:

• Bush administration attacks 'shield' for bloggers