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October 15, 2004
Should Bloggers Be Above the Law?
No I do not mean that Steven Segal should start blogging. Jeff Jarvis asks: Let's say you know something the government wants to know. Maybe you published it on your blog, maybe you didn't. The government subpoenas you. They go after your personal records. They use lawyers to harass you and possibly bankrupt you. They threaten you with contempt if you don't tell.
Would you go to jail for your weblog?
And if you feared you might go to jail, would you continue to go out of your way to ask tough questions, dig up sensitive information, publish controversial views, or challenge the government?
I would not go to jail. I would tell them what I knew if the law requires it. Bloggers and other journalists are not above the law. Neither is anyone else. And this has nothing to do with the First Ammendment as it provides no special rules for journalists. Jarvis is referring to Judith Miller of the New York TImes and her knowledge of leaking Plame.
My only problem with this case is that I do not think a crime was committed by revealing Plames identity since no one has demonstarted that she was a covert operative, which involves being overseas for the CIA in the past five years under cover. The law does not say it is illegal to reveal the identity of CIA employees in general.
Back to the question Jarvis posed, I think I agree with the response by Reynolds on instapundit: Contrary to frequent assertions from professional journalists, there is no special First Amendment protection for members of the press. Such protections, to the extent they exist at all, exist only as a matter of statutory or regulatory grace. Under the First Amendment, everyone enjoys the same protection as "professional journalists." Ms. Leggett probably had First Amendment grounds for refusing to turn over all of her notes, but not for refusing to testify to a grand jury, and not for refusing to make her notes available for copying (rather than seizure). Her refusal to testify may make her a heroine to journalists, but it does not make her a First Amendment heroine.
Posted by Pete at October 15, 2004 08:27 AM
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