This week: Credibility news from Rick Hall of the Deseret Morning News

Protecting sources: The Credibility Committee seeks input on strategies for helping the public understand why we might need to protect a source. Click here for details.

Watching FOIA: Help keep tabs on the federal government's response to Freedom of Information requests. Click here to learn more.

Come to the conference: It's not too late to join us in San Jose. Click here for key links.

SHARE INPUT ON THE ISSUE OF PROTECTING SOURCES
Few in our industry would argue against passage of a federal shield law. But fewer still seem to appreciate the obstacles — not the least of which is credibility with the public — clogging the road to passage.

In the March/April issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, Douglas McCollam, writing specifically about the Plame case, raises several pertinent questions journalists promoting shield law passage must adequately answer.

http://www.cjr.org/issues/2005/2/mccollam-plame.asp

Among the questions McCollam's article brings to mind are:

• In this era of web sites and blogging, not to mention desktop publishing, who is a journalist? Are all who "publish" deserving of the same legal status relative to their sources?

• In this era of corporate ownership and media aloofness, how do we respond to the assertion (made in this case by Washington lawyer Thomas Connolly) that "in some regards, the press is as bloated and arrogant as the institutions they are covering"?

• Despite a commonality of terms — "off the record," "background," deep background," "not for attribution," — there remains wide variation in the definition of terms, and, complicating things even more, one reporter's practices in dealing with sources varies greatly from another's. So how do you codify those relationships?

• In other legally recognized privileged relationships — attorney-client, priest-penitent, doctor-patient, therapist-patient — the privilege belongs to the client, penitent and patient, not the professional. Journalists seem to seek a privilege more similar to the husband-wife privilege. Judge David B. Sentelle, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, suggests this amounts to journalists seeking some kind of "superprivilege." Can we reasonably argue for such special consideration? If so, why? And how?

• Journalists generally believe that protection of sources is essential to our profession, and, of course, that our work is essential to a free and open society. How do we convince the public of that?

The APME Credibility Committee would love to hear your thoughts on the above. Please e-mail rhall@desnews.com.

HELP KEEP TABS ON FEDERAL FOIA RESPONSES
The Society of Environmental Journalists has released a new, anecdotal study of reporters experiences with the Freedom of Information Act based on interviews with 55 of their members. The experiences are important indictors the problems reporters increasingly face in getting information from government agencies. It's available at:
http://www.sej.org/foia/SEJ_FOIA_Report2005.pdf.

Pete Weitzel of the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government wants to create a log of examples involving federal agencies. "We want to build a case file that has strong, government-wide examples of the problems journalists are having, from delays to refusals to fee issues, and we'd also want to build a file of stories that resulted from FOIA that served strong public interests," Weitzel said in an e-mail to APME's Credibility Roundtables staff.

If you have examples to share, please e-mail Pete at pweitzel@rcfp.org.

CLOSING IN ON THE OCTOBER CONFERENCE
The popular "embedded readers" will be back, and so will other key topics involving credibility. Learn how to use Credibility Roundtables to make a difference in your coverage. Join a discussion on what newspapers can do to help the public understand why everyone needs Freedom of Information laws.

And those are just for starters. You'll also find sessions on ethics and coping with the changing demands on newsrooms. And you find lots of sessions on coping with change.

There will also be plenty of fun, from the annual APME Foundation auction to wine tasting and the Freedom Forum's reception.

See the current schedule by clicking here.

If you haven't already registered, it's not too late. For links to register, get a hotel room and more, click here.

Today's installment was prepared by Rick Hall, managing editor of the Deseret Morning News and a member of APME's Credibility Committee.

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Previous issues: Sept. 19, 2005 | Sept. 15, 2005 | Aug. 30, 2005 | Archive