In an opinion piece on POLITICO the same concerns I expressed here many times are now being taken up by others. The new "Media Shield" law passed by a Senate committee recently, restricts the application of the First Amendment to a select few, rather than the whole of mankind, as the authors of the Bill of Rights intended.
There is a sad irony in the proposed media shield bill passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month.
Lawmakers introduced the bill after the federal government violated press freedom by probing the phone records of Associated Press reporters without permission last year. According to the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), the proposed law “ensures that the tough investigative journalism that holds government accountable will be able to thrive.”
Yet an amendment attached to the bill does the very thing the legislation purports to stop: Rather than providing a “shield” so that the government cannot force those who do journalism to reveal confidential sources, it determines who is and is not legally a journalist, offering protection only for those who fit a too-narrow definition of the term.
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