Do bloggers deserve the same protections as MSM journalists? Dick Lugar says no.

If there was anything positive to be gained from The Adventures of Judy Kneepads in Federalpenitentiaryland, it may well be that it prompted Congress to finally consider a Federal shield law to protect journalists, similar to the ones currently standing in 48 states. In case you are wondering if the bill's sponsor, Sen. Richard Lugar (R - Ind.) feels that bloggers will be covered, apparently Dick Cheney must have whispered in his ear and instructed him to tell the bloggers to Go F**k Themselves.

Bloggers would "probably not" be considered journalists under the proposed federal shield law, the bill's co-sponsor, U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R.-Ind.), told the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) Monday afternoon. Lugar emphasized, however, that debate is not yet closed on how to define a journalist under the proposed law. "As to who is a reporter, this will be a subject of debate as this bill goes farther along," he said in response to a question from Washington Post Deputy Managing Editor Milton Coleman. "Are bloggers journalists or some of the commercial businesses that you here would probably not consider real journalists? Probably not, but how do you determine who will be included in this bill?"

I like the point that the debate is still open. Given how harshly the blogosphere has taken the MSM to task for the various shortcomings in the Fourth Estate, I can't imagine they are in any hurry to give us any more power, recognition or standing than we already have. And politicians seem to have recognized the speed with which their various peccadilloes can be brought to the media's attention via blogs, so don't look for any big defenders there either.

All of this is strange, of course, when you look at the wording of the bill which already seeks to define journalists. (My emphasis)

According to the first draft of the Free Flow of Information Act of 2005, the "covered person" protected by the bill's terms includes "any entity that disseminates information by print, broadcast, cable, satellite, mechanical, photographic, electronic, or other means and that publishes a newspaper, book, magazine, or other periodical in print or electronic form; operates a radio or television station (or network of such stations), cable system, or satellite carrier, or channel or programming service for any such station, network, system, or carrier; or operates a news agency or wire service." The legislation also covers employees, contractors or other persons who "gathers, edits, photographs, records, prepares, or disseminates news or information for any such entity."

Do me a favor. Go back and read that paragraph again, reading only the bold, emphasized bits. Now tell me if that doesn't sound like the description of a blogger? The only possible sticking point could be the definition of periodical.

Periodical [2, noun] : a periodical publication
Periodical [1, adj] : published with a fixed interval between the issues or numbers b : published in, characteristic of, or connected with a periodical

"fixed interval between the issues or numbers". Just about every blog I know of is built with software that identifies the beginning of each day's entries. The archives function, both in Blogger and PowerBlogs displays all the back "issues" in either weekly or monthly collections. Doesn't get much more "periodical" than that, if you ask me.

Discuss.