The Bear Flag League -- of which Diggers Realm is a part of -- has filed a court brief arguing that bloggers who report on the news should also be classified as journalists under the law and should therefore receive the protections that journalists do.

Findlaw

Recently, eighty California bloggers who call themselves the Bear Flag League filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in an ongoing, high-profile case. (A "blogger" is a person who writes an online journal, or log, known as a "Weblog," or "blog" for short.) Their brief argues that not only Internet news sites, but also those among bloggers who count as "news gatherers or news reporters," should be treated as journalists under the law.

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To begin, I agree with the Bear Flag League's argument: Bloggers should benefit from any privilege that extends to journalists. The alternative is for a court to decide, by looking to professional credentials and past activities, who is - and is not - a journalist. And in my view, that alternative is unacceptable - whether the journalism is online or off.

The brief was filed by Jeffrey Lewis of SoCalLaw Blog, Ben Pugh of BensLaw and Justene Adamec of Calblog

Other Commentary:

Jeff Doolittle
Sneakeasy's Joint
OC Blog
Damnum Absque Injuria