Jonah On the Press Shield Law

Jonah Goldberg takes on the elite journalists who, viewing the repercussions of the Plame affair, demand passage of a federal shield law to protect their sources. He brands such demands "sanctimonious hooey" and writes:

we shouldn't let the press - which has an enormous, gigantic, colossal mother- of-all-conflicts-of-interest - get away with asserting such things unchallenged. The elite press wants laws which codify their holy status in our culture, and the reporting and commentary reflects that. Forget liberal and conservative, this is the First Among Equals of media bias.

Look, it's fine to make reasonable allowances for journalists in a free society. So if the DOJ's guidelines say don't come down hard on journalists unless it's absolutely necessary, that's fine by me. But a free society is also a society of laws. And journalists cannot be above the law, even if they report they are.

His is the most reasonable take I have seen yet on the whole kerfluffle. I hope his perspective prevails. Guild rules and practices cannot be allowed to supersede federal law.

Read him here.