Enacting A Reasonable Federal Shield Law: A Reply To Professors Clymer And Eliason

These days, it can be difficult to read a newspaper without seeing a story of another journalist subpoenaed to identify a confidential source. From Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada to Judith Miller and Jim Taricani, many reporters are becoming known more for the court proceedings against them than they are for the stories they write. Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter James Risen, who broke the story on the Bush Administration’s illegal warrantless wiretapping program, is the latest casualty.2 Instead of reporting the news, journalists have become the news.