Oregon city wants to decide who is a journalist
The Lake Oswego (Ore.) City Council is considering adopting a policy that would define who
qualifies as a "member of the news media." Oregon has a unique Open Meetings Law that allows the news media to attend executive sessions.
The policy could set a bold
precedent for other public bodies in Oregon that hold executive
sessions, including other cities, counties and school districts, which
could adopt similar policies in deciding who to admit and exclude when
they discuss sensitive issues, according to
The Oregonian. See a copy of the proposed policy
here.
The paper wrote:
The wording of Lake Oswego's draft policy focuses mostly on
traditional media organizations and ignores the growing value of
bloggers, said Kyu Ho Youm, a journalism professor and First Amendment
expert at the University of Oregon.
"Sometimes, bloggers are now able to provide some wonderful sources
of information in addition to what the public may find in the
traditional news media," he said. "I think the information gatherers
should not be limited to the traditional media."