Legislature '07: Shield law up for vote for a second year
Published Jan. 23, 2007
A bill to protect journalists from being forced to reveal their sources will be voted on for a second year with continued hope that it will become a law.
The shield law is meant to prevent journalists from being forced to reveal their sources to courts, except as a last resort.
Under the bill, if the journalist is the only person with the relevant knowledge and there is no other way to obtain that knowledge, then he or she still can be called into court, Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia said. But the proposition would prevent the government from making journalists the first source of information and would instead make them the last source of information.
The bill would assure sources that the confidentiality promised by journalists will be upheld. Graham said confidentiality isn't effective when journalists are subpoenaed.
The bill was authored after Judith Miller, a former New York Times reporter, was jailed for contempt of court for not revealing her sources in a story involving CIA agent Valerie Plame.
Graham said he has noticed a disturbing trend in the last five years in which the government has been dragging journalists into court to try and get information.
"It is beginning to have a chilling effect on what journalists are able to report," he said.
Although Graham sees the bill as urgent, he said he's not sure it will get through.
"I think it will be very difficult to get it passed this year," Graham said.
Graham said one obstacle facing the bill is that some legislators are former attorneys or prosecutors and feel it necessary to be able to obtain the information directly from journalists.
One of the opponents of the bill is Sen. Chris Koster, R-Harrisonville. Koster could not be reached for comment.
Graham said he is not sure when the bill would be discussed during this session. The timeliness of it appearing in the Senate depends on when Sen. Matt Bartle, R-Kansas City, schedules a hearing on the bill. Bartle is the chairman for the Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, in which the shield law would be discussed.
Bartle's spokesman Todd Scott said Bartle is willing to look over the shield law and its purpose.
"In the past, he has had some serious reservations about it," Scott said. "He is open to taking a look at it, but beyond that I can't really say what his opinion will ultimately be. Traditionally, that bill has come through his judiciary committee, and if that happens, we will get a chance to hear the testimony on both sides."