Maine passes state shield law
Maine lawmakers passed a shield law to make Maine the 35th state to protect journalists from revealing confidential sources unless disclosure is of public interest or crucial to a case. A lot of journalists worry about these shield laws - that they are the first step in moving toward government licensing of reporters. That's a valid concern, and I worry about that as well. But one thing I like about this Maine shield law is that it does not define journalists by their employer. It essentially allows anyone to be covered who is doing the act of journalism. Here's the definition: "For the purposes of this section, "journalist" means any person or entity professionally or regularly engaged in gathering, preparing, collecting, writing, editing, filming, taping, photographing or disseminating written, oral, pictorial, photographic or electronically recorded information or data concerning events or matters of public concern or interest or affecting the public welfare or a person supervising or assisting that person or entity." That includes bloggers, citizens or anyone else who is committing acts of journalism.