Resumo de Sources Of Journal Articles

SourcesJournalists' interaction with sources sometimes involves confidentiality, an extension of freedom of the press giving journalists a legal protection to keep the identity of a source private even when demanded by police or prosecutors; withholding sources can land journalists in contempt of court, or jailtime.The scope of rights granted journalists varies from nation to nation; in the United Kingdom, for example, the government has had more legal rights to protect what it considers sensitive information, and to force journalists to reveal the sources of leaked information, than the United States. Other nations, particularly Zimbabwe and the People's Republic of China, have a reputation of persecuting journalists, both domestic and foreign.In the present decade in the U.S., despite a long tradition of a journalist's ability to protect sources from government inquiry, the Supreme Court has upheld lower federal court rulings that restrict to varying degrees the rights of journalists to withhold information, and prosecutors on the state and federal levels have sought to jail journalists who refuse demands for information and sources they seek to protect.[edit]Right of access to government informationLike sources, journalists depend on the rights granted by government to the public and, by extension, to the press, for access to information held by the government. These rights also vary from nation to nation (see Freedom of information legislation) and, in the United States, from state to state. Some states have more open policies for making information available, and some states have acted in the last decade to broaden those rights. New Jersey, for example, has updated and broadened its Sunshine Law to better define what kinds of government documents can be withheld from public inquiry.In the United States, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) guarantees journalists the right to obtain copies of government documents, although the government has the right to redact, or black out, information from documents in those copies that FOIA allows them to withhold. Other federal legislation also controls access to information (see Freedom of information in the United States). The Bush Administration, however, has been much more aggressive in asserting its right to restrict information from the press, which has led to claims that the government is attempting to circumvent FOIA, and to more ligitation between press organizations and the federal government. The federal courts have acted in different ways in different cases, but often have sided with the government against press access.[edit]BloggingThe growth of Internet do-it-yourself publishing in the late 1990s, especially the weblog or blog style of personal publication, gave rise to debates of "are bloggers journalists?" At issues are not only role-definitions, egos and relative status, but practical questions of access, as well as legal questions in jurisdictions where journalists have special privileges -- such as protection against being forced to disclose confidential sources or information.Bloggers are on the watch for cases that might set legal precedent concerning their rights as journalists. For example, in a 2005-2006 California case brought by Apple Computer, an Appeals Court judge said online writers who published information from anonymous sources were entitled to the same protection as other journalists. There was "no workable test or principle that would distinguish 'legitimate' from 'illegitimate' news," the court said. (Related story)

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