Now that it appears special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald is wrapping up his investigation of the leak of a CIA agent’s identity, attention is slowly turning towards the creation of a federal shield law to protect journalists from having to reveal their confidential sources under government pressure.
In recent days Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, has expressed that he has several regrets over his handling of Judith Miller, the Times reporter who spent 85 days in jail for refusing to reveal her source before a grand jury in the CIA leak case. In a letter to the newspaper’s staff, Keller criticized Miller and said she seems to have misled the paper, and that he should have sat her down for a thorough debriefing.
The sudden turn of events surrounding Miller’s jailing and relationship with the Times will undoubtedly spark debate as to whether a shield law for journalists is necessary. If one of the strongest papers in the country cannot reign in one of its reporters, citizens will be weary to support a law that would grant even more protection to newspapers and their reporters which are already protected heavily by the government.
The shield law debate is ultimately about the reaffirmation of civil liberties, not the creation of new rights for newspapers or media outlets. Civil rights, such as the 13 and 14th amendments and Congressional acts, ensure equal opportunity to citizens regardless of race, religion, or sex. Civil liberties refer to the freedoms citizens have from governmental infringement, and are guaranteed in the United States by the Bill of Rights. Civil liberties include freedom of speech and press and freedom to practice religion.
Opponents of the shield law are sending mixed messages of what, and whom, the law actually protects. Tom Curley, president and CEP of The Associated Press said Tuesday that reporters and media outlets are not asking for an exception for them, but for renewal of an exception that already exists. A federal shield law protecting a reporter’s duty not to reveal confidential sources is not a new right, but rather an update of a fundamental liberty outlined in the Bill of Rights.
Liberties and rights in a democratic system are sometimes tested in times of strife and turmoil – and it is necessary to protect and reaffirm those liberties and rights through careful study and assertion. The federal shield law for journalists is necessary to renew the liberties afforded media in the Bill of Rights.
