July 22, 2010
Ms. Carol Cole-Frowe
PO BOX 720102
Norman, Oklahoma 73070
Dear Ms. Cole-Frowe,
Thank you for writing to express your concerns regarding an amendment to the Free Flow of Information Act of 2009 (S448), offered by Senator Feinstein, that would have limited the definition of "covered persons" under the bill. I am glad to have your perspective, and I offer my sincere apology for the delay in my response.
I agree that protecting the anonymity of news sources is potentially of great value to our First Amendment freedoms, but I am concerned that the current breadth of "covered" individuals as described in S. 448 is too broad and could include bloggers and other non-media sources that do not merit the same protections as journalists.
A broad media shield law brings tremendous national security risks by potentially undermining our ability to protect intelligence methods and national security investigations. If the definition of "covered person" is applied too broadly, any individual could leak national security secrets or classified information and subsequently hide behind "journalist" protections. On the other hand, as you note in your letter, applying the term too narrowly could result in mainstream media sources being covered, while some legitimate bloggers, student journalists, or web-based journalists are not.
In order to balance these concerns, the amendment Senator Feinstein offered would have included in the definition of "covered person" any person who had worked as a journalist for at least six months during the previous two years, as well as students who work for journalistic publications at a college or university. For these reasons, I voted for the amendment. However, as you likely know, the amendment failed by a vote of 8-11 and is not included in the legislation that is pending on the Senate floor.
Crafting the definition of a covered person has proven to be one of the most challenging aspects of developing a federal media shield law, but it must be resolved before the bill proceeds to a final vote. I will certainly keep your insights in mind, when the Senate considers the definition of covered persons in the future.
Thank you again for your letter, for your service to your profession in the Society for Professional Journalists, and for your service to the public as a journalist. I welcome any additional thoughts you may have, and I look forward to hearing from you in the future.
Sincerely,
Tom A. Coburn, M.D.
United States Senator
TC: jdw
Oklahoma's definition:
ReplyDeleteThe statute defines “journalist” as any “reporter, photographer, editor, commentator, journalist, correspondent, announcer, or other individual regularly engaged in obtaining, writing, reviewing, editing, or otherwise preparing news for any newspaper, periodical, press association, newspaper syndicate, wire service, radio or television station, or other news service.”
The definition explicitly excludes “any governmental entity or individual employed thereby engaged in official governmental information activities.”
“Medium of communication” is statutorily defined as “any newspaper, magazine, other periodical, book, pamphlet, news service, wire service, news or feature syndicate, broadcast station or network, cable television system, or record.”
-- Joey Senat