For readers that have read my previous humorous post on existentialsim, it seems as though philosophers, cartoon characters like Scooby-Doo and singers are not the only ones asking questions on the state of being. In a recent U.S. decision, a Judge from the Superior Court of New Jersey had to question the essence of being a journalist in order to determine whether a blogger could shield itself behind state laws and avoid having to disclose the names of 16 local government officials the blogger accused of misusing county generators after Hurricane Sandy in a blog post. In essence, the question before the Court was whether “to be is to do”, or whether “to do is to be”. We all know what Socrates, Shakespeare, Descartes, Scooby-Doo and Frank Sinatra answered to this question. So what did Judge Karen Cassidy answer to this question?
In arriving at a conclusion, the Judge considered three important factors: whether the blogger had a connection to news media; whether the purpose was to gather or disseminate news; and whether the blogger obtained information through professional news-gathering activities.
Despite the prosecutors’ argument to the effect that the blogger at issue could not be considered a journalist because many of the bloggers posts were “unprofessional and related to her personal involvement in local politics”, the Court found that the blogger at issue passed the three-part test in order to determine whether someone qualifies as a journalist and receive protection under the shield law: “These original posts are arguably newsworthy and constitute ‘news’ under the Statute [...]. In addition, her method of talking to sources, attending freeholder meetings, and using Open Public Records Act requests … is sufficiently similar to the methods used by traditional news media entities.”
In short, the Court concluded that to do is to be that is to say, journalism is something you do to something you are. For the blogger, what this meant protection under the same laws that protect “journalists” in a more conventional sense of the term.
Smit LeSieur is a Full-Service International Law Firm based in Toronto. Areas of practice include media and entertainment, data privacy, cybersecurity, Internet and e-commerce, intellectual property, access to information, marketing and advertising. More information is available at http://www.smitlesieur.com.
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- Is blogging journalism? (yetanotherteenageblog.wordpress.com)
- By Popular Demand: Another Slice of Humor for the Readers (dataprivacyandsecuritylaw.com)
- Senate committee votes to limit journalist protection (kitv.com)
- Hawaii Journalism Shield Law Protects the Public’s Right to Know (hawaiireporter.com)
- Hawaii lawmakers negotiate limits to shield law (sfgate.com)
- The Future of Good Journalism In Hawaii Is In Peril (civilbeat.com)
- Freedom of the (Internet) Press (notebooknumbernine.wordpress.com)
- MEAA calls for uniform shield laws to protect journalists (mumbrella.com.au)
- Who Or What Is A Journalist These Days? (civilbeat.com)
- Journalism Shield Law Should Not Be Gutted by Hawaii Lawmakers (hawaiireporter.com)
