Politics

Durbin not sure if bloggers should be ‘entitled to constitutional protection’ [VIDEO]

Jeff Poor Media Reporter
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On this weekend’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said that it was too early to call for a special counsel to look into the Justice Department’s monitoring of journalists.

Instead, Durbin said he backed a “media shield law,” but was not sure if such a law would protect bloggers or “someone who is tweeting.”

“You’ve raised an important point and I heard Sen. Graham call for special counsel,” Durbin said. “I’m not ready to do this at this moment. I would like to know if Holder has any conflict in here beyond what we heard when it comes to the Fox case.”

“But here is the bottom line — the media shield law, which I am prepared to support, and I know Sen. Graham supports, still leaves an unanswered question, which I have raised many times: What is a journalist today in 2013? We know it’s someone that works for Fox or AP, but does it include a blogger? Does it include someone who is tweeting? Are these people journalists and entitled to constitutional protection? We need to ask 21st century questions about a provision that was written over 200 years ago.”

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