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• Representative Barbara Marumoto Press Statement - Reservations On The Shield Law

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PRESS STATEMENT
Representative Barbara Marumoto
(R) District 19
Office 808-586-6310

RESERVATIONS ON THE SHIELD LAW

Honolulu -- I rise with reservations on HB 2557, Relating to Evidence. This is the journalist shield law. Though I am voting aye, I have reservations regarding the range of 'journalists' who may claim this privilege. A journalist shield law is designed to encourage the dissemination of accurate information to the public. Ironically, this bill may protect those individuals who knowingly disseminate inaccurate information, such as unscrupulous online bloggers. This bill provides for the protection of journalists who disseminate information in the public interest. However, this bill is too broad and includes individuals, who may look like journalists but are not held to the same ethical standard as journalists.

Individuals who wants to claim the privilege need only show that

(1) they regularly participates in the dissemination of information of substantial public interest,
(2) their position is similar to a journalist;
(3) their interest is similar to a journalist's interest in protecting his source; and
(4) that protecting the source is in the public interest.

This definition is not narrow enough to parse the bloggers who write to inform the public from the bloggers who merely write for entertainment or who have an axe to grind. There is no ethical or professional threshold against which to measure these bloggers.

This bill treats journalists of a reputable newspaper exactly the same as a writer on a gossip blog. True professional, full time journalists (whether print, television, or online) are accountable to their editors as well as to their readership or viewers. In contrast many bloggers are accountable only to themselves.

I believe, that in pursuit of the truth, journalists need the privilege and protection of a shield law. But it is because of the broadness of the scope of the term journalist that I vote with reservations.

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