Press Release
September 19, 2006
NAHJ Reiterates Call for a Federal Shield Law
Media Contacts: Daniela Montalvo, (202) 662-7152
Washington, DC – The National Association of Hispanic Journalists once again calls upon Congress to pass a federal shield law that it will consider this month which would protect journalists from forcibly revealing confidential sources.
In a letter to Sen. Arlen Specter, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, NAHJ president Rafael Olmeda and NAHJ executive director Iván Román voice the association’s support for a bill that would create a federal shield law for journalists. As described in the letter, bill S.2831 or the Free Flow of Information Act of 2006, “strikes an appropriate balance between the need to protect the free flow of information to the public through a free press and the need to ensure the fair administration of justice and effective law enforcement.”
The letter to Sen. Specter is one of several public statements NAHJ has made in recent years supporting the enactment of a federal shield law. In 2004, NAHJ asked Congress to pass a shield law after the arrest of television reporter Jim Taricani; and in 2005, NAHJ repeated this request after the arrest of New York Times reporter Judith Miller. Both reporters were arrested for refusing to reveal the identity of their sources.
The violation of the First Amendment rights of journalists is of great concern to NAHJ and the association hopes that Congress will finally pass a law to protect the press.
Read NAHJ’s Letter to Sen. Arlen Specter
NAHJ Outraged by Imprisonment of New York Times Reporter Judith Miller
NAHJ Calls Taricani Conviction an Attack on Journalists’s First Amendment Rights
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