By David L. Brown, VP-Communications
The struggle continues to enact a federal law to protect journalists from having to reveal their sources and documents. Known as the Free Flow of Information Act, a.k.a. the federal shield law, would also protect confidential informants and assure they are not silenced due to fear of prosecution or having their identity revealed. Senate Bill 448 is presently under consideration by the upper house.
The Society of Professional Journalists is leading the fight for passage of the law, under which the federal government would have to prove to a judge that the information sought outweighs the journalist’s need to keep confidential information. A page on the subject, titled “Struggling to Report: The Fight for a Federal Shield Law,” appears on the National SPJ website at this link.
National SPJ President Kevin Smith has been a strong advocate for passage of the bill. He writes:
The Free Flow of Information Act, Senate Bill 448, currently under consideration in the U.S. Senate, makes it tougher on federal prosecutors to reach out, intimidate and promote punishment of journalists who won’t play by their rules. It protects journalists from jail, sources from being outed and the American people from having valued stories untold.
That is why journalism organizations like the Society of Professional Journalists are fighting harder than ever to make sure stories
- SPJ National President Kevin Smith during a meeting at the Santa Fe New Mexican.
don’t die before they’re written, killed off by the specter of federal subpoenas. Stifling the press through legal strong-arm tactics has become a common practice, reaching levels well over 3,000 a year. Clearly, this has to stop. SPJ has been a proponent of this protective legislation for more than five years and our efforts won’t stop.
Approval by the Senate and with a House compromise could provide us with the federal law journalists, their sources and the public so desperately need. We are closer to landmark legislation than we’ve ever been. Anyone who believes that an unfettered press is a capstone to our many cherished freedoms will want to stand behind this legislation.
When sources can come forth without fear of reprisal to share information with the media, when the press can report on important issues at the highest levels of government without fear of incarceration and when the American people can once more be guaranteed its officials are accountable to them, the Free Flow of Information Act becomes a necessary instrument in the preservation of democracy.
You can help. Go to this link to find out how SPJ is working to support the bill. Check here to learn how to contact your state’s Senators. Click here to contact your Representative. You can also donate money to the Society’s legal defense fund. Details are here.
The shield law has been a long time coming, years in fact. In the meantime, journalists have been jailed or forced to pay ruinous legal expenses; witnesses and whistleblowers have hesitated to come forward; and the public has been denied free access to information they should have from an unhindered free press. The effort deserves effort on all our parts, not only in behalf of freedom of the media, but for the sake of every American.