Friday, December 01, 2006

More on Patrick and shield law

As I noted here yesterday, Massachusetts Gov.-elect Deval Patrick, in a speech to the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association (of which I serve as executive director), expressed his support for a shield law in the state. Today, the Boston Herald has an editorial on the news, Let the Honeymoon Begin:
Trying his best not to make real news, Gov.-elect Deval Patrick still managed to offer an encouraging word to the state’s newspaper publishers on the future of a shield law for journalists.
"I think a shield law is very important," Patrick told a meeting of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers’ Association. "I’m very concerned about the jailing of reporters ."
[Read more.]

1 comment:

Cherryl said...

Greetings Mr. Ambrogi - this is not pertinent to your blog post but I could not find an e-mail address for you (unless I did not see it) but I have what I think is an interesting media law question for you, if you have time to answer.

This affects hundreds of thousands of people a year, and that is, the issue of arrested persons being put on the news before they are convicted.

How is this legal?

What if the person is not convicted, then what? They have basically already been tried by public opinion, plus their appearance on the news may be prejudicial in terms of the jury for their trial.

Any insight on this, and whether any states have shield laws for arrested persons would be greatly appreaciated.

OH! Finally, is there any recourse for those who have been plastered all over the news only to be found not guilty during the trial?

Thanks so much!
Cherryl - www.thelastnerve.com