Mainstream press throws Wikileaks under a bus in journalist shield debate

A new proposed federal journalist shield law is under debate in the USA, which sounds like a great idea, except that the traditional press have agreed to amendments that would exempt Wikileaks from any protection for its confidential sources, on the grounds that Wikileaks isn’t journalism (ORLY?).

More generally, Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee, criticized WikiLeaks as “not journalism.”

“It’s data dissemination, and that worries me,” she told Time magazine. “Journalists will go through a period of consultation before publishing sensitive material. WikiLeaks says it does the same thing. But traditional publishers can be held accountable. Aside from Julian Assange, no one knows who these people are.”

Wait, what? You don’t want to give confidential source protection to Wikileaks because Wikileaks has confidential sources? [Boggle].

Trying to exclude WikiLeaks from shield law stinks
(via /.)