“We the Media”
December 17, 2009 by Ashley
Recently, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill extending the Shield Law, which protects journalists’ confidential sources in federal court. With the exception of national security issues, the bill passed by a 14-5 vote will not only apply not only to information held directly by reporters, but also to information such as phone and e-mail records held by third-party service providers. With broad support from journalism organizations, the bill extends the definition of a “journalist” to include unconventional reporters like bloggers, freelancers and citizen journalists.
This raises an interesting question: How do you define today’s journalist?
I bet Benjamin Franklin didn’t see this one coming. When laying the ground rules of the First Amendment for freedom of the press, the definition of “the press” was (quite literally) black and white. With the media shift towards citizen journalism and the ever-increasing accessibility to technology, virtually anyone with an Internet connection could be considered part of the media. I think at one point most of us have posted a Twitpic, 140-character fact, status update or blog entry “with the intent to disseminate information to the public.” With the court’s current definition of a journalist, I think it would be more helpful to define who is NOT a member of this group.
The definition of a modern day journalist is a constantly moving target. How would you define it?
Photo: Steve Rhodes
