There’s a bill in the House and the Senate this year that might give some bloggers the same protections that traditional news reporters have.

The Free Flow of Information Act would beef up federal shield laws that protect journalists from revealing their sources except in the most immediate cases where a crime has been committed, when a threat is posed to national security, or when private personal information is revealed illegally.

The Politicians, As Usual, Are Focusing on the Wrong Thing

The U.S. Department of Justice doesn’t want this bill to get through Congress. Those who oppose the bill say that anyone could use such shield laws to protect themselves if they just slapped up a website as soon as they were accused of some high crimes against the state. However the bill already makes it very clear that if a journalist breaks the law or reports on someone who has broken the law, then the shield doesn’t necessarily protect them. The real issue (the one they are trying to distract you from by invoking scary terrorists and murderers) is that some politicians frankly just don’t want anyone sharing the government’s secrets. But, simply telling the truth alone is not a crime.

The Justice Department doesn’t want journalists to report the truth though. They want journalists to report what they want you to know.

Why the Public’s Right to Know is Important

In case you forgot, the government works for you! You pay for all of the government’s operations. And the fact is, sometimes the government gets into some shady stuff…like torturing people maybe…or spying on its own citizens, let’s just pretend. These things are illegal for our government to do, according to the laws we’ve set up for ourselves in this country. So when that stuff happens, the public needs to know, and we have to hold the government accountable.

If you take away journalists’ privilege not to incriminate themselves or others, then you make it much easier for a government to keep these “state secrets” securely hush-hush.

Why Some Bloggers Should Be Given Journalistic Cred

The proposed bill defines a journalist as anyone engaged in “gathering, preparing, collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting or publishing of news or information that concerns local, national or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public.” Why is this important?

New York Times columnist William Safire “praised the bill’s current definition because he said it focuses on the actions characteristic of journalists, not their affiliations.” Here’s what he had to say:

Whether you’re a blogger or whether you’re The New York Times or CBS or The Wall Street Journal, if what you are doing is aimed at informing the public, then you’re a journalist, whether you get paid for it or not.

Certain bloggers work passionately towards reporting, aggregating, and spreading information freely with the public, even if they’re not paid by a big news organization or publisher to do it. Notice how I’m reporting on the news right now, for instance. ;)

[more: CNET News.com]