Obama Administration Seeks To Gut Reporters’ Shield Legislation

The House of Representatives passed a version of the reporters’ shield bill that is now stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee. An alternative Senate version of the bill, the Free Flow of Information Act, is currently awaiting markup. Forty-nine states and the District of Columbia currently recognize some form of reporters’ privilege, either through statute or common law.

The American Civil Liberties Union strongly supports the concept of a privilege for reporters, and has concerns that the current bill does not go far enough in protecting journalists from having to disclose confidential sources in civil proceedings while providing an overly broad exception for national security cases. The Obama administration’s proposal exacerbates those concerns.

The following can be attributed to Michael Macleod-Ball, Acting Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office: