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December 02, 2004
Privilege
Eugene Volokh had a good column on the use of confidential sources in journalism today. He suggests two main propositions: that journalists should only be forced to divulge their sources if a crime was committed in the revealing of information and that bloggers are entitled to the same legal protections as other journalists. The second point seems obvious to me as a matter of equal protection under the law, but although I agree with his first point as well that is a bit trickier.
Volokh points out that "Thirty-two years ago, the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment does not create a journalist's privilege: like anyone else, journalists must testify when ordered to do so." A lot of self appointed watchdogs (journalist in this case) seem to think that the rules that apply to other citizens do not apply to them in many cases. They are journalists before they are citizens. This has always bothered me and the trend has spread to other self appointed watchdog groups like librarians who often act like their duties as a librarian (defending patron privacy and fighting censorship) supercede their duties as a citizen (obey the law, in this case the Patriot Act). For instance, many libraries now no longer keep records they once did for fear that they might be someday searched by a government investigator with a warrant. This is in spite of the fact that searches like this have helped to save innocent lives in the past and that their patrons do not have the right to use libraries to commit crimes or acts of terrorism.
Posted by Pete at December 2, 2004 04:16 PM
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