It looks like we'll soon have a new law to shield reporters who refuse to reveal their sources. From a Netscape News article:
The original bill centered on the idea that a balancing test should be applied under which a federal judge would weigh the public's right to know versus national security claims made by the government. The administration wanted to eliminate that balancing test in many cases involving terrorism and other security cases.
Under the compromise, the balancing test would be eliminated in classified leak cases where the government can show that disclosure of a source's identity is necessary to prevent or mitigate an act of terrorism or substantial harm to national security. But the government would also have to provide specific facts: it could not make a national security claim and then withhold most of the details.
See this link for more.
Is such a law necessary? And conversely, is the "leak" exemption required?
What do you think?
Alex
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