Would you approve of a federal shield law for journalists?

"The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation Thursday to establish a federal shield law for journalists, but it faces obstacles to Senate passage.





The panel voted 15-2 to approve the bill (S 2035) by Arlen Specter, R-Pa., after grappling with several amendments offered by Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. The committee adopted some of Kyl’s amendments but rejected others.





Proponents of the measure say it is necessary to protect reporters who find it difficult or impossible to obtain vital information about official wrongdoing and other sensitive subjects unless they can promise their sources confidentiality. Opponents argue that a federal shield law could hamstring law enforcement officials seeking to prevent acts of terrorism or uncover unlawful leaks of classified information."





http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20071004/pl_c...

Would you approve of a federal shield law for journalists?
Bad idea..if they know if anything illegal will happen..they should be held resposible if they refuse to disclose what may happen that may be harmful to another person or community and can be stopped.


This opens the door for them to speak to anyone who may commit a crime and them not notify the authorities to prevent it.
Reply:Sounds like the GOP is still smarting over Woodward %26amp; Bernstein's expose of Watergate.
Reply:no! no! no! they WILL abuse it.
Reply:I'd prefer to see a reverse of that. I'd like a bill that hangs every journalist and anyone who gives government secrets away to them.





No, I'm apposed to this. There are security issues that should never be leaked and the people who leak them, including the journalist, should pay a price.
Reply:Leave it to the Democrats to support legislation that supports terrorists.
Reply:Federal protection for unmonitored private business?





That is a license to lie and not be held liable.





Sorry, no.
Reply:I would not give absolute protection to anyone, however journalists should be given as much protection about their sources as possible. Let's face facts, it's not journalists wondering the dumpsters of congress in order to find classified information that just happened to be thrown away, all classified information must come from somewhere so my guess is it comes from a person with enough clearance who wants the information out for public consumption. Why punish the journalist for providing the means of getting that information out?