Viva The Free Press!

Katy Grimes: Time spent today on an Assembly Joint Resolution to declare a free press in California seemed a little redundant given that California already declares that its press is “free.” Existing law states that a journalist cannot be held in contempt for refusing to name a source. However, federal courts are increasingly imposing severe prison sentences on journalists who decline to reveal confidential sources, as well as fines of up to $5,000 a day.

The purpose of AJR 16 is to urge Congress to enact a shield law for America’s journalists to preserve the free flow of information to the public arising from the use of journalists’ confidential sources. This resolution, according to author Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, “appropriately seeks to thwart increasing efforts to impose sanctions against journalists for honoring promises of confidentiality where such sources are often essential to the press’s ability to inform the public about matters of vital concern.”

California’s first shield law was enacted in 1935, and later was incorporated into the state Constitution.

I’ll remember that.


Related Articles

Big Teacher Is Watching You

John Seiler: Government already spies on us almost continuously. Now this: No kid will be safe slacking off in the

Chart shows stock market NOT setting records

The following chart plots the Dow Jones Industrial Average against gold since 1978. This is important because gold is the

Sacto City Clerk rejects petition to put arena subsidy to a public vote

In another twist in Sacramento’s arena derangement syndrome, a petition drive to put a public subsidy for the proposed Sacramento