It looks like bloggers and other journalists will be shielded from having to reveal their sources as a bill was passed by the House Judiciary Committee which would protect them. The bill has strong bipartisan support.
This was introduced by Mike Pence (R-IN) and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) in response to a number of recent cases where journalist were sent to jail or threatened to be if they didn't give up their sources.
There are several areas the bill doesn't offer protection in, and that is in regard to leaks of trade secrets, imminent death, terrorism or national security.
The bill is focused on protection at the federal level, as 30 states at this time have shield laws in place.
One other provision of the bill is those protected must be earning money from their writing to receive protection.
The Society of Professional Journalists has been working hard to keep the definition of what constitutes a journalist as wide as possible, as the the narrower the definition the less helpful the bill would be.
National president of the SPA Christine Tatum said, "While it's important to distinguish responsible journalists from casual bloggers, the more narrow the language defining who is a journalist, the less impact the bill will have."
A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate as well.
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