http://news.com.com/Apple+goes+to+the+source/2010-1071_3-5601664.html Apple goes to the source March 7, 2005, 4:00 AM PT By Declan McCullagh Apple Computer's attempts to strong-arm Web publishers into divulging their confidential sources illustrates how bloggers, Internet journalists and other online scribes remain second-rate citizens. No significant difference exists between the news-gathering techniques used by traditional reporters and the publishers of Apple news sites Think Secret, Apple Insider, and PowerPage. But there is a tremendous legal chasm dividing them: The California law protecting confidential sources shields only broadcast media and "periodical publications"--not the Web. Apple claims that the Web writers are not "legitimate members of the press" when revealing details about forthcoming products. Those actions, though, describe exactly what good journalists do--writing articles that serve their readers, rather than the parochial interests of a single corporation. The ability of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to protect Deep Throat led to their famous series of Washington Post articles about the Watergate break-in and subsequently led to President Richard Nixon's downfall. At the time, Nixon's Committee for the Re-election of the President tried to compel Woodward and Bernstein to divulge their sources through a lawsuit. Nixon failed. In a March 1973 decision, U.S. District Judge Charles Richey wrote: "This court cannot blind itself to the possible 'chilling effect' the enforcement of these broad subpoenas would have on the flow of information to the press, and so to the public." Apple is trying to win the argument that Richard Nixon lost... The eventual outcome of the case may turn on the wording of the California Constitution. It protects anyone currently or previously employed by "a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, or by a press association or wire service." That shields sites like News.com, Salon.com, and Slate.com--typically staffed by ex-newspaper reporters--but probably doesn't help bloggers or the Apple news sites... [...remainder snipped...] _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Mon Mar 07 2005 - 08:03:26 PST