Administration Opposes Shield Law for Journalists

The Bush Administration Wednesday again
asserted its strong opposition to a federal shield law that would
protect reporters from having to reveal information about their
confidential sources.

A majority of states have such a law and journalists have been pushing
for federal protection, arguing that the government is clamping down on
more traditional means of gathering information, like FOYA requests, in
the name of national security.

At a Senate Judiciary Hearing, the fourth hearing the committee has
held on shield legislation, Senator Patrick Leahy said that a
half-dozen journalists have been fined or jailed for not revealing
sources in the past year, while the bill has been blocked from passage
by some Republicans.

But Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty countered that “There is not
one shred of evidence supporting the notion that the Department of
Justice is out to get the media.”