Click Your Heels 3xs & Protect Sources: Kansas Passes Shield Law

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After a near-decade battle waged by the Kansas Press Assn., the Sunflower State has joined the ranks of 37 other states by enacting a Shield Law protecting journalists from having to disclose confidential sources.

Democratic Gov. Mark Parkinson signed the measure, which takes effect when it is published in the Kansas Statute Book due out July 1. The Senate Substitute for H.B. 2585 defines journalist as: " (1) a publisher, editor, reporter or other person employed by a newspaper, magazine, news wire service, television station or radio station who gathers, receives or processes information for communication to the public, or (2) an online journal in the regular business of newsgathering and disseminating news or information to the public."  The definition is broad enough to protect uncompensated bloggers.

The statute follows the language of the seminal U.S. Supreme Court decision, Branzburg v. Hayes,  408 U.S. 665 (1972), in that a party seeking disclosure of a journalist's newsgathering material or confidential sources must demonstrate in court the unavailability of the information elsewhere after a diligent search and that the information being sought is both relevant to the subject controversy and of compelling interest.

Germany to Strengthen Protections for Journalists

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Germany's Cabinet intends to enact a law according greater protection to journalists who rely on confidential state informants, according to Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusseur-Schnarrenberger.

Presently, section 353b of the German Penal Code subjects individuals who betray state secrets to a maximum five years' imprisonment. Prosecutors have employed the statute, which the Cabinet plans to revise, to search and confiscate material from journalists, irrespective of whether the scribes are accused of wrongdoing.

According to Reporters Without Borders, Germany ranked 18th worldwide in press freedom in 2009, two slots higher than the U.S. (take that, 1st Amendment lovers).