Bill helps media protect sources of information

A bill seeking to strengthen the law  protecting  media practitioners against being forced to reveal their sources was approved by the Senate yesterday.

Senator Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media and sponsor of Senate Bill No. (SBN) 1255, said the proposed law was a consolidation of Senate Bill No. 6 and Senate Bill No. 486, filed by Majority Floor Leader Tito Sotto and Senator Sonny Trillanes, respectively.
  
Poe said the bill sought to amend Republic Act No. 53, better known as the Shield Law or the Sotto Law, which was passed 70 years ago, proposed by Sotto’s grandfather, the late Senator Vicente Yap Sotto.
  
She said the Shield Law exempted the publisher, editor, columnist or duly accredited reporter of any newspaper, magazine or periodical of general circulation from divulging their sources unless it endangered the security of the State.
  
“Through this law, we want to embolden whistleblowers to speak out. If they cannot approach government institutions, then they should at least be able to approach the media,” Poe said.
  
The law, she further explained, ensured press freedom and guaranteed the freedom of speech by allowing the press to report on matters involving public interest without fear of undue pressure from the government to reveal their sources.
  
But the Shield Law, Poe said, was solely confined to print media. She said the passage of SBN 1255 into law would also protect broadcast and online journalists as well as foreign and local wire news services from revealing their sources.