Time right for shield law
By NAN HENDERSON
Of the Emerald
SALEM (Special) — It appears that the time is
right in Oregon — and possibly in Congress — to
establish a “reporters’ shield law” which would
protect journalists from being forced to reveal the
names of news sources or unpublished information.
Two related developments are primarily
reponsible for this new politically favorable at
mosphere:
— In 1970, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a
Massachusetts lower court decision by adhering to
the view that “there exists no constitutional
newsman’s priveledge ... to refuse to appear and
testify before a court or grand jury.”
— Until that ruling, many if not most reporters
in the country believed that the First Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution which guarantees free speech
and a free press implied some sort of reporters’
shield.
[ Analysis
Since that ruling individual journalists and
prestigous journalistic organizations have begun to
forcefully press for a news shield law, both in
Oregon and on a national level, as the number of
cases involving reporters who reufse to reveal
sources has steadily increased. Currently, about
twelve such cases are pending in several states.
A question remains, however, about what kind
of shield law should be enacted. And here is where
controversy still flourishes.
Four bills which would establish some sort of a
shield law have been introduced in the Oregon
legislature and are presently being considered by a
newly formed Committee on Professional
Responsibilities.
The bills each deal with the establishment of a
shield law in a different way, with only one (SB 206)
extending an “absolute priveledge” to newsper
sons. This bill is considered “unrestricted” and
“unqualified” because it grants a shield to any
person engaged in gathering information for public
dissemination and establishes that sources or un
published information would not have to be
revealed under any circumstance, except “with
respect to the content or source of allegedly
defamatory information.”
SB 206, known as “the Governor’s Bill,” was
drafted by the executive office after Governor
McCall twice met with newspersons to discuss what
sort of shield law, if any, they supported. The
consensus of the Capitol press corps was to support
an unrestricted and unqualified shield law.
The other three bills are restrictive and
qualified in different degrees as they provide a
definition of who is a newsperson and establish or
leave room for a procedure by which sources of
information could be extracted from a journalist
“to meet a compelling and overriding state interest
in the information.”
At the first hearing on the shield law question
held Monday night before the Professional
Responsibilities committee, arguments for both
kinds of laws were voiced. Only one person,
however, testified in opposition to any shield law.
Nearly all of the professional journalists who
testified during the hearing, including Register
Guard reporter Lloyd Paseman, William Wassman,
Register-Guard Managing Editor and KXL News
Director John Salsbury, urged the committee to
pass SB 206.
They also reported that major Oregon jour
nalist organizations including local chapters of The
Newspaper Guild, the Radio Television News
Directors Association and the Oregon Association of
Broadcasters have adopted resolutions in support of
the bill, which was drafted from a model recently
recommended by the American Newspaper
Publishers Association.
Oregonian publisher Robert Notson joined
with Don Chalmers, a University of Oregon second
year law student, in asking the committee to pass a
qualified bill.
Chalmers, who made the longest and strongest
case for a qualified law, called upon the committee
members to establish “a proper balance of the
public’s right to know and the right of public
protection ” in whatever bill they adopted.
He cited cases in states that have a qualified
law where courts have established “tests that are
very harsh” in determining if it was in the
overriding public interest to force a journalist to
reveal his or her sources.
“An individual life may be worth the in
vestment of a privilege one time,”' Chalmers
said.
The reporters argued in their testimony that
even the possibility that a court or jury may force a
newsperson to reveal a source may cause sources to
“dry up.”
“And if even one source is dried up, that is a
disservice to the public,” Paseman said.
William Frye, former Lane County District
Attorney well-known for his 1966 prosecution of
Annette Buchanan, then Emerald managing editor,
who refused to reveal the sources of a story she
wrote on the widespread use of drugs at the
University, disagreed with Paseman.
“The only reason we have four bills and a room
full of persons with a singular point of view is that
the press is concerned about reporters going to
jail,” Frye said.
Frye argued that “it is better to do something
about crime than to write about crime.” He also
called upon journalists to give “examples of stories
that went unreported because we don’t have a shield
law.”
Eighteen states currently have some sent of
reporters shield law, most of which are restricted as
to who qualifies as a reporter but give unqualified
shields against extracting sources from those
reporters.
The Committee on Professional Respon
sibilities, chaired by Rep. Robert ingaiu (R
Corvallis), editor of the Corvallis Gazette-Times,
and ultimately the Oregon legislature will decide in
the following weeks if Oregon, too, will establish a
shield law.
The next hearing on the question is set for next
Monday at 7 p.m. in room 309 of the Capitol.
Council meets with Senate
BV SCOTT PETERSON
Of The Emerald
The ASUO Senate has
established formal relations with
the Eugene City Council almost a
year after the idea was first put
forth.
Seven of Eugene’s eight City
Council members attended a
special orientation meeting
Tuesday night in the EMU
sponsored by the ASUO Com
munity Affairs Committee, and
designed to acquaint the city’s
legislative body with the com
munity activities of the ASUO.
Representatives of the nine
ASUO community-oriented
agencies presented overviews of
their respective programs, which
included the areas of student
housing, campus transportation
and parking, environmental
concern, and several community
services funded through
University Students’ incidental
fees.
Last night’s meeting fulfilled a
campaign promise made by Cliff
Zukin before he was elected
President of the ASUO Senate
last spring. Since that time Fred
Wasson, who is currently chairer
of the Community Affairs
Committee, regularly visited
City Council meetings as an in
formal liaison officer between the
Council and the Senate. “I didn’t,
know anything about the Coun
cil,” said Wasson, “but we
wanted to show them we were
interested in some kind of.
relationship.”
The Community Affairs
Committee kept the relationship
idea alive over the summer and
become its major proponent once
fall term began. T%e plan was
finally solidified into a date for an
ice-breaking session last Wed
nesday, giving the ASUO
agencies a scant six days to
prepare their descriptive
statements.
“Some Council members were
apparently uncomfortable with
the thought of meeting with
students,” said Zukin. “I think
they were bothered by the old
radical stigma,” he said.
Now that the initial step has
been taken, the ASUO is going to
wait to see how the Council
members respond, according to
Zukin. In the meantime, four
recently appointed liaison of
ficers will carry on com
munication between the ASUO
and the city Department of Parks
and Recreation, Eugene Plan
ning Commission, the Eugene
Police Department, and the City
Council itself.
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