Bloggers treated as journalists by pending federal legislation

If you’re a blogger and you engage in journalism in your blog, then you’re a journalist, per The Blog Herald reporting on the Free Flow of Information Act (pdf) pending before Congress.

The [Act] protects journalists from divulging their sources for news stories except in cases where there is imminent harm to national security, imminent death or significant bodily harm involved, a trade secret of significant value in violation of State or Federal law, individually identifiable health information, and in instances where nondisclosure of the information would be contrary to the public interest.

In defining journalism broadly, the bill states: “The act would apply to web logs (’blogs’) that engage in journalism.” It also clarifies that journalism refers to the tasks of “gathering, preparing, collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing of news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public.”

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