Yes, they’re still journalists

Terrific editorial worth pointing to in today’s San Jose Mercury News:

… Are bloggers journalists?

The debate is not about who gets bragging rights to ink-stained wretchdom. It is about who is shielded under an important law that allows journalists to keep their sources confidential. The law is essential to a journalist’s ability to gather information while protecting whistle-blowers inside government, corporations or other organizations. Ultimately, it’s essential to a free press.

In the Apple case, the computer maker claims that the Web sites and blogs that published leaked information are not run by journalists and do not deserve the protections of the California Shield Law.

It’s a puzzling and misguided argument. The Web sites — Apple Insider, PowerPage and ThinkSecret — have been writing about Apple for some time. The people behind them collect information that is of interest to the public and publish it for the consumption, primarily, of a throng of avid Macintosh fans. In other words, they perform a function that is little different from that of scores of trade publications, or even the business sections of major newspapers.

The fact that they publish online and not in print is irrelevant. After all, no one would argue that online publications such as Salon.com, Slate and CNet — not to mention MercuryNews.com or WashingtonPost.com — are not journalism.

The California Shield Law is clear. It covers, among other people, “a publisher, editor, reporter or other person connected with or employed upon a newspaper, magazine or other periodical publication.” If the Web sites publish periodically, which they do, their reporters and publishers are protected. …

JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.