DU this poll: Are bloggers journalists/deserving press protections?

Do you think bloggers are journalists and deserve press protections?

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0202/p03s02-usju.html

Now in California, a court will soon decide whether bloggers have the same legal protections as journalists under "shield" laws that protect reporters from revealing their sources. Among Apple's targets is a 19-year-old blogger who twice recently leaked information about new company products weeks before Apple unveiled the products themselves.

You forgot to tell us how to vote on this poll. Over at Free Republic, they always tell you which way to vote. Now I'm all confused...

Welcome to the DU.

:toast:

welcome aboard!

Because anybody could be a blogger--there's no credentials to obtain. Just register with typepad or blogger or whatever and go to it.

Homer: That lousy pothole. Why don't they fix it?
Bart: I heard Mayor Quimby spent the street repair fund on a secret swimming pool for himself.
Homer: Get out. Who told you that?
Bart: Nelson.
Homer: Hmmm. That's the kind of dirt that belongs on my web page.
Lisa: You can't post that on the Internet. You don't even know if it's true!
Homer: Nelson has never steered me wrong, honey. Nelson is gold.
Bart: You know, it might have been Jimbo.
Homer: Beautiful, we have confirmation.

So probably they don't get the same sort of protections as journalists. Possibly this legal area will be filled in at some later point.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

Where is credentials in the First Amendment?

Malicious falsehoods about someone else? Does it entitle you to steal industrial secrets and post them on the internet? How about peoples credit card numbers?

Bryant

2,000 years later we still ask; "Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"

press protection in the Plame investigation. Since his "jounalism degree" is from a two day seminar, he really cannot claim jounalist status.

I have a blog.
I don't claim to be a journalist.

a legit journalist can certainly have a blog. does Josh Marshall or Eric Alterman ONLY have protection for PRINT journalism?

the question is WAY too open.

What gives legitimacy?

What makes one a "journalists"?

There is no way to single out particular group for "special protection." Shield laws commonly used to define "press protection" should apply to everyone. The standards are laid out quite clearly in Branzburg v. Hayes. Those standards should apply to all.

As an Apple fan, I have been following the case of the blogger leaking secrets. Apple is attempting to charge the blogger under trade secrets laws, effectively accusing the blogger of corporate espionage. A newspaper journalist can still be charged under this law.

The thing I find the most funny about the situation is that people are applying journalist protections to the blogger when he is NOT acting like one. Simply because you post something on the web does not give you the right to call yourself a journalist. A writer, sure, but not a journalist.

To clarify, wikipedia.org has a page on journalists which states "Regardless of medium, the term journalist carries a connotation or expectation of professionalism in reporting, with consideration for truth and ethics."... while not necessarily meaning that you have to work at a 'professional' organization, it does refer to the set of behaviors which journalists are expected to follow.

The Society of Professional Journalists has a page providing their (voluntary) code of ethics. (http://www.spj.org/ethics.asp). I truly fail to see how this blogger has followed this code.
The simple fact is that this blogger is being sued not to reveal his source, (which can be considered protected), but for engaging in corporate espionage. This fact alone shows how much he has not behaved in a manner worthy of being called a 'professional' journalist. If he is not acting like a journalist in the first place, I don't see any reason to give him the honors due to journalists.

Welcome to DU!! :toast: