PenceBlog: <b>Former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson says federal media shield "much-needed"</b> - U.S. Congressman Mike Pence : 6th District Of Indiana

Former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson today penned this op-ed in The Washington Post about the need for a federal media shield.

Here are two excerpts:

"The Senate Judiciary Committee will soon take up a bill entitled the Free Flow of Information Act of 2006, sponsored by a bipartisan group of legislators and modeled in large part on the Justice Department guidelines."

***

"This legislation is long overdue and should be enacted. It will not, contrary to its opponents' arguments, hamper law enforcement. The 49 states and the District of Columbia that have such protection have experienced no diminution of law enforcement efforts as a result of these shield laws. Nor will it give reporters any special license beyond the type of common-sense protection we already accord to communications between lawyers and clients, penitents and clerics, doctors and patients and among spouses -- where we believe that some degree of confidentiality of communications furthers broad social goals."

Congressman Pence is the House author of the Free Flow of Information Act.

posted by Pence Press Office # 3:12 PM