Senate Votes Against 'Media Shield' Law
Bill Would Have Protected Reporters From Being Forced to Reveal Sources
By JUSTIN ROOD
July 30, 2008—
Senate Republicans Wednesday successfully voted down an effort to pass a bipartisan "media shield" law that would protect reporters from being forced to reveal their sources in court.
The 51-43 vote against a motion to end debate on the measure and allow it to be voted on by the full Senate, fell largely along party lines. Sens. Elizabeth Dole, N.C., and Lindsey Graham, S.C., two GOP senators who had attached their name to the bill as co-sponsors, voted with their party to defeat the motion.
The vote was the bill's first before the full Senate since the Judiciary committee approved the measure last October. Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Reid waited to introduce the bill until today to "give everyone involved more than enough time to negotiate a compromise."
"The bill is not dead," said Lucy A. Dalglish, executive director of the Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press, who blamed today's vote on "partisan politics." Her organization, along with over 60 other groups including media associations, news outlets and nonprofit groups, has endorsed the measure.
Dalglish said Democrats could still bring the bill up again after the August recess, and that she understood Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was "inclined" to do so.
Asked if that was the case, Manley said his boss "will consult with [bill cosponsor] Sen. [Patrick] Leahy [D-Vt.] and others to consult about next steps, but he has at least laid it out as an option."
The House passed a version of a media shield law last October. The measures are opposed by the Bush administration.