The Wisconsin state Senate appears likely to pass legislation Tuesday aiming to strengthen a law that gives protection to news outlets and their confidential sources.
Deemed the ""Shield Law,"" the legislation would give journalists protection against revealing their confidential sources except in cases where the news, information or identity of source is ""highly relevant"" to an investigation.
Donald Downs, UW-Madison political science professor, said the law makes some exceptions and said, ""an absolute shield law would just not be a good idea.""
He said he is in favor of more protection for journalists, but said journalists will still take precautions if the bill passes because their protection is ""not absolute.""
According to Steve Porter, local lawyer and member of the Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section of the State Bar of Wisconsin, the legislation would require lawyers to file a motion if they wanted access to basic information not attributed to a confidential source.
The law would prohibit subpoenaing any ""news, information, or identity of any source of any news or information that is not described"" in subsections that describe protections for confidential sources.
""We 100 percent support the notion that confidential sources should be protected and that, under most circumstances, news reporters or news organizations should not have to divulge sources. But this bill goes much further than that and essentially insulates any reporter or news organization from having to produce any information, period,"" Porter said.
Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, said the bill is ""not a partisan issue"" and expects the bill to pass. He said a majority of states already have legislation that gives strong protection to journalists and their confidential sources, and if Wisconsin passes the bill tomorrow, it will become the 39th state to do so.
He said current law gives some protection to confidential sources but the legislation would limit releasable information.
""It's just a good government measure that protects the ability of whistleblowers to report wrongdoing… The key point is, when a media outlet gives a promise of confidentiality to a source, this is a very strong protection,"" he said.
