Media Shield Bill Clears Committee
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the media shield bill cleared an important hurdle in passing a key Senate Committee. The Free Flow of Information Act, sponsored U.S. Senators Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee 14 to 5. The revised version of the bill, unveiled October 30th, has received backing from the White House and over 70 media organizations. The bill includes provisions to protect national security interests while providing legal protection for journalists guarding the anonymity of their sources.
“Today has been a long time coming. The bill creates a fair standard to protect the public interest, journalists, the news media, bloggers, prosecutors and litigants,” Specter said. “This marks a major improvement over current procedures where journalists have been threatened, fined and jailed for appropriately protecting sources. White House negotiators for President Obama played a decisive role in working out this compromise and I thank the news media who have kept up the pressure for years to produce this compromise. Finally, Chairman Leahy has been dogged in advancing the bill while respecting minority rights.”
“This is a big breakthrough that paves the way for a vote by the full Senate on this important proposal,” Schumer said. “After months of talks, we’ve struck the right balance between the national security concerns and the public’s right to know. This bill will ensure a free press, which is a cornerstone of our democracy. It deserves to be considered on the Senate floor as quickly as possible.”
“The Free Flow of Information Act strikes the right balance among the important objectives of protecting our nation, enforcing our criminal laws and ensuring freedom of expression,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy. “After years of debate and countless cases of reporters being held in contempt, fined and even jailed for honoring their professional commitment not to publicly reveal their sources, the time has come to enact a balanced Federal shield law.”
The bill emerged from Committee today after hours of debate, a marathon of amendments and being listed on the executive committee calendar on 18 separate occasions. Specter and Schumer’s bill, in its previous form, earned committee approval by a 15-4 margin in 2007 but was filibustered on the floor.
The bipartisan proposal is co-sponsored by Chairman Leahy, as well as Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), and Tom Udall (D-N.M.). It has also been endorsed by 42 state attorneys general and over 70 media organizations, including The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Washington Times, the Associated Press, and Gannett Newspapers.
Currently, 49 states, plus the District of Columbia, provide some measure of legal protection to reporters who decline, even under the threat of being held in contempt of court, to disclose the identity of confidential sources. However, no federally recognized protection exists. The Free Flow of Information Act seeks to change that by establishing a qualified privilege for reporters to withhold confidential source information obtained or created under a promise of confidentiality. The legislation has always accounted for the fact that, in certain instances, the public’s interest in national security, law enforcement and fair trials outweighs the public’s First Amendment interest in permitting reporters to protect the identify of sources.
The bill:
in cases where the government is attempting to compel the disclosure of information, continues to require a demonstration that the information is "essential" to the
prosecution or defense in criminal cases;
preserves a public interest balancing test for criminal and civil cases and in most leak cases (other than leaks with the potential for prospective harms);
and revisits the change made to the definition of journalist in the September 24 Manager’s Amendment by removing the requirement that the journalist be a salaried employee or independent contractor for a media organization. This should permit freelance authors to be covered, and it also provides the potential for journalists publishing on blogs to be covered as well.
“Today has been a long time coming. The bill creates a fair standard to protect the public interest, journalists, the news media, bloggers, prosecutors and litigants,” Specter said. “This marks a major improvement over current procedures where journalists have been threatened, fined and jailed for appropriately protecting sources. White House negotiators for President Obama played a decisive role in working out this compromise and I thank the news media who have kept up the pressure for years to produce this compromise. Finally, Chairman Leahy has been dogged in advancing the bill while respecting minority rights.”
“This is a big breakthrough that paves the way for a vote by the full Senate on this important proposal,” Schumer said. “After months of talks, we’ve struck the right balance between the national security concerns and the public’s right to know. This bill will ensure a free press, which is a cornerstone of our democracy. It deserves to be considered on the Senate floor as quickly as possible.”
“The Free Flow of Information Act strikes the right balance among the important objectives of protecting our nation, enforcing our criminal laws and ensuring freedom of expression,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy. “After years of debate and countless cases of reporters being held in contempt, fined and even jailed for honoring their professional commitment not to publicly reveal their sources, the time has come to enact a balanced Federal shield law.”
The bill emerged from Committee today after hours of debate, a marathon of amendments and being listed on the executive committee calendar on 18 separate occasions. Specter and Schumer’s bill, in its previous form, earned committee approval by a 15-4 margin in 2007 but was filibustered on the floor.
The bipartisan proposal is co-sponsored by Chairman Leahy, as well as Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), and Tom Udall (D-N.M.). It has also been endorsed by 42 state attorneys general and over 70 media organizations, including The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Washington Times, the Associated Press, and Gannett Newspapers.
Currently, 49 states, plus the District of Columbia, provide some measure of legal protection to reporters who decline, even under the threat of being held in contempt of court, to disclose the identity of confidential sources. However, no federally recognized protection exists. The Free Flow of Information Act seeks to change that by establishing a qualified privilege for reporters to withhold confidential source information obtained or created under a promise of confidentiality. The legislation has always accounted for the fact that, in certain instances, the public’s interest in national security, law enforcement and fair trials outweighs the public’s First Amendment interest in permitting reporters to protect the identify of sources.
The bill:
in cases where the government is attempting to compel the disclosure of information, continues to require a demonstration that the information is "essential" to the
prosecution or defense in criminal cases;
preserves a public interest balancing test for criminal and civil cases and in most leak cases (other than leaks with the potential for prospective harms);
and revisits the change made to the definition of journalist in the September 24 Manager’s Amendment by removing the requirement that the journalist be a salaried employee or independent contractor for a media organization. This should permit freelance authors to be covered, and it also provides the potential for journalists publishing on blogs to be covered as well.
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