Will Bloggers Blow Judith Miller Defense?

Bloggers Blur the Definition of Reporters’ Privilege

By Josh Gerstein NY Sun Staff Reporter

This article raises some really disturbing arguments regarding blogers and the fate of NY Times Reporter Judith Miller and Time Magazine's Matt Cooper who face up to 18 months imprisonment each next Wednesday for refusing to reveal confidential sources.

"... it’s the bloggers’ very existence that undercuts the journalists’ legal defense.

...The crux of the reporters’ contention is that the public would be
less well informed if journalists could not promise their sources
confidentiality. However, the proliferation of blogs and bloggers could
represent the Achilles’ heel in this approach. If Ms. Miller and Mr.
Cooper are entitled to claim special treatment in the courts, so too
could hundreds of thousands of Americans who use the Internet to post
comments about their views on current events."

I am appalled an insinuation that the Constitutional rights of two individuals should be denied, for fear that others will claim the same Consitutional rights. Did Gerstein sleep through his high school civics class?

My bafflement over his Orwellian speculation is only matched by my bewilderment as to why the Blogosphere remains completely blase over this unfolding travesty.

Just whose door do you think they'll be rapping on in the dark next?

Comments

[James Robertson]

You do realize that the confidentiality of sources is a tradition and not a right, don't you?

[Tom Royce]

Dumb Question, but what "Constitutional" rights has Collins been denied? There have been accepted rights of the press to protect their sources, and I am far from an expert, but what specific Constitutional priveledge are given to this relationship?

[shel]

To James and Tom:

I am referring to the First Amendment which protects free press. You can have no free press, unless reporters can dig around the official words doled down from official spoekspeaple. The Supreme Court has been consistent over years in saying the right of reporters to assure confidentiality is required by the free press. This was expressed quite articulately in the case oif the US Government v. the New York Times when the issue was revealing the source of the leaked Pentagon Papers. Without this guarantee, our press will not be much different from the way it was practiced in the Soviet Union and China. BTW, Tom. who is Collins? I assume you meant Miller.