I'll never understand the stupidity behind the discussion about whether bloggers are or aren't journalists and whether they should or shouldn't get protections from a federal shield law or similar.
If a source tells me something newsworthy and I put it on the blog then I'm practicing journalism and I should get the same protections as anyone else practicing journalism. It isn't about creating a special class of people who are above the law, it's about understanding that certain types of activities deserve certain protections because it's in the public interest to preserve the ability of people - all people - to engage in those activities if they so choose. That should apply whether I write about my scoop on my blog, put it in the pages of the New York Times, reveal it during a segment on the Majority Report, stand on the street corner and announce it with a bullhorn, or print it out in newsletter form and stick it under the windshields of all the cars on my street.
