Reporter Farm

Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) and Congressman Rick Boucher (D-VA) have introduced bi-partisan legislation to prevent reporters from being jailed for failing to divulge their sources when ordered to do so by a federal judge. According to the Washington Post, however, they are dropping their insistence on an “absolute privilege” in favor of a bill that would allow judges to jail reporters in certain cases (most notably in civil cases and cases involving special prosecutors, such as the recent CIA leak case).

While the bill would cover online reporters for newsgathering organizations, it would not cover millions of individual bloggers. It seems that while all reporters are equal, some reporters are more equal than others. This confirms to me that I was right in saying that so-called “shield” laws are unconstitutional because they protect a small group of people (establishment reporters, preachers, etc), but not most Americans. When will the discrimination end?