The civil rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, which represents two of the three sites under fire, says being able to ensure sources' confidentiality is critical to any journalist's ability to acquire information -- and that includes Web diarists, aka bloggers... "They're people who gather news, and they do so with the intent to disseminate that news to the public. The only distinction to be made between these people and professional journalists at The New York Times is that they're online only."
....So is a blogger a journalist? Certainly, some organizations have begun to legitimize Web logs as a valid grassroots form of journalism. In 2004, bloggers for the first time received press passes to cover the conventions during the Presidential elections. They have broken major news stories. Several prominent bloggers have become media pundits. And mainstream media outfits, including BusinessWeek Online, are developing blogs to complement their traditional outlets.
By those definitions, writing TalkLeft makes me a journalist. I report on the news and create a daily newsfeed. I received a press pass to cover the Democratic convention and covered the Republican convention without a pass. I've been a cable news pundit for nine years. I'm paid to blog local politics and news for a mainstream media publication, Denver's 5280 Magazine. I've done several online chats for the Washington Post on legal cases in the news, and wrote a monthly column on legislation for years for a legal publication. But, I'm not a journalist. I'm a lawyer and commentator and activist who writes a blog. That may make me media, but it doesn't make me a journalist. It's one thing to blog about the media, news and politics. It's another to actually be a journalist.
Another note: Just as not all bloggers who blog about the news and media are journalists, not all journalists are reporters. Some are columnists and opinion writers. I see most bloggers as fitting into the latter category. In fact, what's the difference between a columnist and a blogger, except usually only the former gets paid for his or her opinions? Probably, the answer is accountability. A journalist has to be responsible and report or provide commentary based on accurate facts. That takes work. Bloggers sometimes write fast and don't have the resources or inclination to fact-check. True, their readers point out mistakes almost instantly, and bloggers then both correct the error and note it (which is more than some MSM publications do) but still, the blogosphere is in its Wild West stage and it's read at your own risk.
Lawyer bloggers have an edge, because we have Lexis-Nexis and can fact check pretty easily. But that's not a responsibility to assume lightly. I'd rather be a personal blogger and purveyor of my own constitutionally protected opinions. Here's why:
When a New York Times reporter get sued for libel, the Times hires Floyd Abrams to represent them. Who's going to pay a blogger's legal fees? Sure, there are pro bono organizations like Electronic Frontier who will come to the rescue of some. But, in general, bloggers are on their own, liability-wise. Dominick Dunne, a prominent author who's being sued by Gary Condit for what he wrote in a Vanity Fair article, will tell you it's no fun to defend a libel suit. So unless I happen to be your lawyer, please don't tell me any secrets. I'll take the attorney-client privilege over the reporter's shield any day. Even post-Ashcroft, at least it still has most of its teeth.
MSNBC's Connected Coast to Coast with Ron Reagan and Monica Crowley will be covering the Apple case at noon ET Wednesday, and I'll provide some commentary from both the blogging and legal perspective.
Update: It was a thoughtful discussion for two segments that raised several topics, and focused as much or more on whether the Apple site committed theft, and whether bloggers could publish stolen information, as it did on whether bloggers are journalists.
Trey of Jackson's Junction has the video of the second segment up here. Thanks, Trey. The other guests were Scott Mendelhoff (Fmr. Prosecutor and Paul Grabowicz (School of Journalism-UC Berkely.) As an aside, it's been years since I've seen Mr. Mendeloff. He was one of the prosecutors in the Timothy McVeigh trial in which I was one of the defense attorneys. We used to argue against each other in front of Judge Matsch. It was a lot more civilized this morning.
Update: The ever-gracious Crooks and Liars has posted the video of the longer, first segment.
