[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 19166-19167]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               SHIELD LAW

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I would like to briefly mention three items 
in these closing minutes before the Senate takes its traditional August 
break. One has to do with the legislation Senator Lugar of Indiana and 
I have introduced in this Senate and its companion which has been 
introduced by Congressman Pence and Congressman Boucher on a bipartisan 
basis in the other body. I refer to the so-called shield law bill, 
which we have offered to the Congress as a Federal proposal to 
complement the statutes that exist across the United States in 31 
States as well as the District of Columbia. Eighteen other States have 
rules of law that provide some protections for reporters who rely on 
confidential sources for their stories.
  This law Senator Lugar and I are proposing in the Senate is only 
nominally about reporters. It is fundamentally about those who rely on 
the free flow of information in our society to gather important 
information that is critical for our democracy.
  As we are about to take this recess for the next 4 or 5 weeks, we 
would do well to remember that a few short miles from where we are this 
evening, there is a reporter who sits in a prison cell. Her only 
offense is that she has steadfastly refused to reveal a journalistic 
source. In a society such as ours, this should not be, in my view, an 
imprisonable offense. A free society obviously requires a free press. 
Thomas Jefferson once said that given the choice between a free 
government and a free press, he would choose the latter. Others, such 
as Madison, have suggested that in a nation where you do not have the 
free flow of information, it puts a nation at great risk.
  That has been the tradition of our society for more than 200 years. 
We are entering dangerous territory in the 21st century when a reporter 
gets thrown in jail because she or he honors a commitment to keep a 
source confidential.
  I believe it is time we enact a Federal shield law to mirror what 49 
States and the District of Columbia have done by law or rule.
  It is thought that our bill would absolutely guarantee under any and 
all circumstances that a reporter's sources ought to remain 
confidential. It does by and large protect that confidentiality. 
However, we create exceptions for national security. Obviously when 
there is no other means by which you could glean important information, 
the reporter should release the information that may be critical in a 
prosecution. But we try to keep sacrosanct that relationship between 
the source and the reporter. Again, not for the sake of the reporter, 
but for the sake of our citizenry, for the sake of the free flow of 
information which is critical in a democracy.
  The distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee on which the 
Presiding Officer today serves held a very good hearing a few days ago. 
I commend the members of that committee. It was a very good 
participation by members of the Judiciary Committee who listened to 
various witnesses talk about a shield law.
  This is not a liberal or conservative issue. As I mentioned, we have 
Congressman Pence and Congressman Boucher in the House of 
Representatives. Congressman Pence, a conservative from Indiana, 
Congressman Boucher a Democrat from Virginia, along with Senator Lugar 
and I and others have introduced this legislation because as Senators 
and Congressmen, as American citizens, we believe it is important in 
our society that we have this free flow of information. Therefore, we 
are hopeful this body in the coming months before we adjourn sine die 
would enact a shield law.
  I sat with an executive in the news business who told me the 
incarceration of Judith Miller, the reporter who is in jail tonight in 
Alexandria, is having an impact in his own newsroom. Reporters and 
their editors are thinking twice about going forward with stories, 
important stories, stories in the public interest, because they fear 
the harshest sanctions should a prosecutor knock on their door one 
morning and demand to know the sources of those stories. This should 
not be happening in our country.
  I hope we as a Senate will give this matter the attention it 
deserves. Senator Lugar and I do not claim that the bill we have 
introduced is perfect. We welcome advice and counsel of our colleagues 
on how we might craft a good shield law. It is not a partisan issue. 
Senator Lugar and I have a bill that has support on both sides of the 
aisle. We want to work with our colleagues to see this law be enacted. 
It is of fundamental importance to our country that we enact a strong 
and good and viable shield law at the national level.

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