Many of you are aware that SPJ has been working tirelessly for years to promote a federal shield law that will protect journalists and their sources from improper interference by federal prosecutors.

Personally, I’ve been to Capitol Hill the last two years making SPJ’s position on this important legislation known to a variety of senators and Congressional representatives. But, many well-intentioned officers of the Society preceded me. This has been a long and arduous process. First, let me say thank you to all who have toiled for this legislation over the years.

Next week the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on Senate Bill 448, the Free Flow of Information Act, a bill that is coming very close to becoming law.  This is the closest we’ve been to having a shield bill make it to the president’s desk. With support now from the White House and the majority leadership of this Congress we have high hopes this will be the year we can report to our membership that we are protected against federal prosecution when it comes to revealing confidential sources.

This can be a reality but SPJ and the media coalition need your help.  The time now is crucial. We are on the one-yard line and this is the winning score.

 In the days leading up to the Nov. 19 Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote, we want members of SPJ to take a few minutes and call or email members of the committee, or your senators or representatives and express your wish to have SB 448 passed.  Call them and email them.

One thing I’ve learned from my trips to the Hill is you might not get to talk to a lawmaker but they do get status reports every day from staff telling them who called and for what bill. They will pay attention when they get hundreds of calls and emails for SB 448.

That’s why we need as many members as possible to make those calls and send those emails supporting this legislation. SPJ needs your voice. With more than 8,000 members to be heard, we can make a difference. We can make a unified sound that will resonate with all members and we can nudge this bill from the committee, one step closer to law.

Please call or send an email.  Stand behind the shield law and ask our lawmakers to do the same.

This entry was posted by Kevin Smith on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 2:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.