Blogging and Journalism: Extending Shield Law Protection to New Media Forms

News-oriented bloggers have contributed much to the public sphere in recent years. Whether or not bloggers are considered journalists and thereby are protected by shield laws will be an important question for policy makers and the courts. This paper provides an overview of the law concerning the constitutional and statutory privileges accorded journalists. It then critiques proposals to create a federal journalist's privilege as applied to bloggers. Finally, the paper argues that the test articulated in Von Bulow v. Von Bulow should be adopted in federal legislation. Under Von Bulow, bloggers would be shielded from disclosing confidential sources and information when they function as journalists.