Professional bloggers equated to journalists

The new law, which is supposed to protect journalists (and bloggers) from disclosing their sources of information, was yesterday considered in the legal committee of the US House of Representatives. The so-called Free Flow of Information Act in its original version considered journalists all bloggers, without exception, which caused legitimate complaints from some experts. Now the wording has been corrected, so that only “professional” bloggers get journalistic protection. Those are those who receive financial profit or live at the expense of their blog.

It remains unclear whether a typical blogger who gets ten bucks a quarter from contextual advertising falls under this wording. It seems that there is also “financial profit”, but can it really be called a source of existence?

The American Society of Professional Journalists, oddly enough, is in favor of the broadest definition of a journalist, reports Ars Technica . According to them, the broader the definition, the more useful the law will bring.

An almost identical version of the bill ( PDF ) is already submitted to the US Senate. The legislation has very high chances of being passed.