Federal reporter's privilege law this year?

In late March the U. S. House passed the Free Flow of Information Act of 2009, H. R. 985, which is now before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

If enacted, the law would provide conditional protection against compelled testimony or production of documents related to information obtained or created by a covered person as part of engaging in journalism.

In order to obtain testimony or a document that would disclose the identity of a confidential source, a court must find that disclosing the identity of the source is necessary to:

• prevent (or identify the perpetrator of) an act of terrorism or other harm to national security;
• prevent imminent death or significant bodily harm; or,
• identify a person who has, in violation of certain federal laws, disclosed information concerning trade secrets, individually identifiable health information, or nonpublic personal information.

The bill defines a "covered person" as someone who regularly reports and writes on matters that concern local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public for a substantial portion of the person’s livelihood or for substantial financial gain.

‘Journalism’’is defined as "the gathering, preparing, collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing of news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public."

Stay tuned.