WebProNews

Recently WebProNews readers fired off a couple hundred comments regarding the US House of Representatives’ definition of journalist in the Free Flow of Information Act, a law shielding journalists from having to reveal their sources. A new development in Virginia involving a citizen journalist shows why this definition needs to be broadened to include bloggers, and any other type of journalist.

Public Citizen, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, and The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression have stepped to the defense of Waldo Jaquith, a Charlottesville, Virginia-based blogger subpoenaed to release a wide swath of information to a court in the process of hearing a defamation case.

Waldo Jaquith
by Jen Fariello
readthehook.com

Jaquith, an independent blogger who runs cvillenews.com, blogged about a lawsuit filed by Thomas Garret, a media personality, against Charlottesville weekly “The Hook.” Garret’s attorneys are demanding Jaquith produce all communications with sources for that blog post, that he identify all anonymous commentators on the blog, and all readers who read the blog post, according to Public Citizen. The suit seeks emails to and from Jaquith relating to Garret or the lawsuit, and any documents relating to information obtained, generated or created in writing the resulting article.

Paul Alan Levy

“One of our country’s founding values is that the person standing on the soapbox in the town square has the same freedom of speech they have at The New York Times or the Toledo Blade, for that matter,” said Public Citizen attorney Paul Alan Levy. “Bloggers such as Jaquith may not be ‘traditional’ journalists but they play an integral part in the way people get their news today.”

An attorney for the ACLU warned that if the subpoena is allowed to stand, bloggers would have to look over their shoulders whenever they write about a pending lawsuit, which could have a chilling and devastating effect on free speech.

This case is state specific, and the attorneys stepping in on Jaquith’s behalf are arguing he’s covered under Virginia’s own journalist shield law. Nationally, under the House of Representatives’ proposed version of the Free Flow of Information Act, Jaquith would only be covered by federal shield laws if he makes a living from his blog and he has some sort of boss or employer.

We didn’t bother to ask Jaquith if he made money from his local news blog (judging from lack advertising, we’re guessing not) because that question is irrelevant. So is the question of whether he has a supervisor of some kind. If he considers himself a local watchdog, that should be enough for anybody, and he should be protected under any shield law targeted toward protecting freedom of the press.

In an interesting twist, this case is happening in Virginia, the home state of Rep. Rick Boucher, the sponsor of the House version of the Free Flow of Information Act. Without extending protection to bloggers, passion publishers, nonprofits (and now anonymous commentators, it would seem), Boucher and the slew of cosponsors on this bill (below) are abridging the freedom of the nonprofit, independent press, a clear violation of the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

Rep. Boucher did not return request for comment or defense of how the House has defined “journalist,” how it is not a violation of the First Amendment, or whether legislators intend to expand the definition to include the press in all its forms. Currently the bill has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where hopefully these problems will be brought to light.



*House of Representatives Free Flow of Information Act of 2009 cosponsors: Mr. PENCE, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. WALDEN, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. COBLE, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. BLUNT, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. WU, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. MACK, Mr. MCCAUL, Ms. NORTON, Mr. WOLF, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut, Mr. UPTON, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. BERRY, Ms. GIFFORDS, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. PUTNAM, Mr. WEINER, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. COHEN, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mr. COOPER, Mr. DOYLE, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, and Mr. REHBERG