Blogger is a journalist, judge says

Funny you should mention this Robert. I posted a blog entry on this subject just the other day (http://www.eclecticismo.com/hhblog/2006/11/bloggers_as_journalist.html).
In summary I don’t think right now that bloggers can be considered journalist legally. In the United States there are shield laws that exists at the state level and protect a specifically defined set of “journalist.”
Although this judge declared this person a journalist, it still doesn’t apply to bloggers in general.
But I’m hoping that the US Federal Government will enact some legislation that will shield citizens when it comes to blogging as journalist are shielded in many states now.

Ahh, but under Florida shield law, a blogger working for a news organization, say, Podtech.net, is a journalist.

So, while all bloggers might not be covered, quite a few would be.

And I believe that the courts (at least in the United States) will be pretty liberal in defining who is a journalist and who isn’t.

why don’t we just create some sort of registration to determine who’s an actual “journalist”.

I’m all for blogging, but there needs to be a difference. There needs to be some semblance of journalistic integrity… little suzy blogging about her boy problems shouldn’t count as journalism.

There should be requirements of some sort..

I’m just not the guy to make up the requirements.

Ryan: we were arguing about just this thing 15 years ago in journalism school.

I don’t believe we’ll ever have a certification for journalist.

I also don’t agree with you that there should be requirements. Those will be decided on by the readers anyway. If we all want to read salacious tabloids instead of meaty journalism, shame on us.

Any suggestion that journalists should be registered or approved in anyway by the government should scare the crap out of anyone serious about the first amendment. A journalist is someone who engages in journalism no matter his or her age, societal status, etc.

Now would someone please pass this ruling on to the San Francisco Federal Judge still holding Josh Wolf in contempt?

So? Remember where this was said. This was said in Canada.

This is the same country that thinks ham (if eaten for breakfast) is bacon.

Scoble, a 3 judge panel of one of the most liberal courts in the land..the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals already ruled in your doofus buddy Josh Wolf’s case that he wasn’t a journalist because “…he was not employed by or connected with any official news agency” . So, we could already have stare decisis here in the US. Apparently their definition is, you have to be getting paid by a recognized journalism entity to be qualified as a journalist. Again, this is not me saying this, this ia one of the most liberal courts in the country.

@5. They can pass the ruling on all they want. This was a ruling made in Canada. Last I checked, they weren’t part of the US. Moreover, this is also a country where the courts have said it’s okay to steal music from publishers, so take that ruling for what its worth. God help us if we ever get to the point that Justice Ginsberg thinks we should be at where the US legal system looks to other court decisions in other countries for precedent.

Scoble, there already is proposed legislation around a possible federal shield law, being pushed by RINO Arlen Spector.

Christopher Dodds, D-Conn introduced language in the bill that says could play to your favor. He wants to define a journalist as a person who “engages in the gathering of news or information” and who also “has the intent, at the beginning of the process of gathering news or information, to disseminate the news or information to the public.” News media is defined as “any printed, photographic, mechanical, or electronic means of disseminating news or information to the public.”

But I’m not sure what you want a shield law to protect you from, though The SC ruled in 1972 that shield laws don’t protect you from coughing up evidence to a grand jury. So your cause is somewhat moot.