Vermont’s journalism community is calling on the legislature to defend the First Amendment by establishing basic legal protections for reporters and their sources. Unlike most other states, Vermont does little to prevent the legal system from essentially deputizing journalists by forcing them to reveal confidential sources and information on the stand. S.96, the media shield bill, would change that.
Click here to follow S.96 on the Vermont General Assembly website.
Click the following link — S.96 Media Shield Bill FAQ — for a PDF written by Vermont journalists Paul Heintz, Hilary Niles and Mark Davis.
Read about why Vermont needs a shield law in an op-ed by Dave Gram, who recently left The Associated Press after more than three decades covering Vermont from its Montpelier bureau.