Shield Laws

Shield Legislation Pending in Massachusetts

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Shield legislation pending in Massachusetts would likely provide a qualified privilege to citizen journalists.  Subject to certain exceptions, the bill provides a qualified privilege to "any covered person, who is providing or has provided services for the news media."

It appears that the bill's protections would extend to citizen journalists.  According to the bill, a "covered person" is defined as

a person who engages in the gathering of news information and has the intent, at the beginning of the process of gathering news or information, to disseminate such news or information to the public.

Whereas "news media" is defined as

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Shield Bill Dies in Texas

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Last week I noted that the Texas Senate had approved the "Free Flow of Information Act" and sent the bill to the Texas House of Representatives.  Well, that was short lived, as the bill has now died in the Texas House.

According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the bill

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Shield Bill Moving Forward in Texas

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It must be Texas day, with two posts relating to the Lone Star State. 

The Texas Senate approved the "Free Flow of Information Act" on May 1 in a 27-4 vote and sent the bill to the Texas House of Representatives.  The bill would give "journalists" a qualified privilege to protect both their sources and their newsgathering materials.  Under the current language of the bill, a journalists is defined as follows:

"Journalist" means a person who for financial gain, for a substantial portion of the person's livelihood, or for subscription purposes gathers, compiles, prepares, collects, photographs, records, writes, edits, reports, investigates, processes, or publishes news or information that is disseminated by a news medium or communication service provider and includes:

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Federal Shield Bill: Don't Go Dancing in the Streets Just Yet

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In announcing the introduction of shield legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives on May 2, 2007, Representative Mike Pence (R-Ind.) commented:

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