CARBONDALE - A shield law protecting journalists from revealing confidential sources to authorities might not be the answer the American press is looking for when it comes to revealing sensitive information to the public, a panel of journalism experts indicated Tuesday at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Gil Cranberg, former editorial page editor of the Des Moines Register and professor emeritus at the University of Iowa; Steve Henn, professor at Northwestern University and reporter for American Public Media; Jeffrey McCall, journalism professor at DePauw University, and Jon Sawyer, former St. Louis Post-Dispatch Washington bureau chief and head of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, joined Paul Simon Public Policy Institute visiting professor and interim SIUC School of Journalism Director Bill Freivogel on Tuesday in the Student Center.

The discussion was a follow up to New York Times Washington Bureau Chief Philip Taubman's lecture Monday night, which covered his involvement in last year's story about the National Security Association tracking international calls placed inside the U.S. as a counter-terrorism measure.

The Times story ignited public debate over whether President George W. Bush had overstepped his constitutional power in initiating the program. The piece may also yet be another instance where the reporters who broke the story face jail time if they don't reveal their sources should the matter come before a grand jury, Taubman said.

The panel weighed in on the press' ability to use confidential sources for the purpose of publishing information about secret programs within government without the fear they will be incarcerated. Proposed shield laws, which are currently up in the air in Washington, have been suggested by some legislators as a means of protecting professional journalists from going to jail if they choose not to reveal anonymous sources that led them to print sensitive stories.

Cranberg said the law sounds good and he, above anyone, should be a champion for such legislation, having been protected by a similar Iowa law in the past, but he said such a law allows government to set the ground rules for who and who is not a journalist in society. Shield laws, he noted, come dangerously close to requiring journalists to carry certification or licensure, which defeats the purpose of citizen journalism in the U.S.

Cranberg noted shield laws may also lead some journalists to rely too much on anonymous sources for big stories, knowing they can't be touched by legal consequences.

"I'm not saying the press should not use anonymous sources; I am saying it opens the door to a lot of unreliable information, though," he said.

Henn said it is important to keep in mind when it is appropriate for the press to reveal secret government information, but it is equally imperative to ask when it is appropriate for the government to attempt to keep secrets.

"When you are, as a reporter, faced with a story where there may be a legitimate role for secrecy, keep in mind is this chain of secrecy being used to prevent the public from knowing information about improper behavior," Henn said.

McCall said he doesn't mind the government making a case for secrecy on certain topics with the press, as was done on the NSA wiretap story, but government officials should have no authority that impedes the press from making the decision to print or not to print on its own.

McCall argued setting up shield laws for journalists automatically puts reporters in a different caste from the rest of the society in its ability to collect information.

Sawyer said shield laws would only further limit journalism at a time when corporate ownership and cost-cutting at newspapers has limited the ability of the press' role to watch over government actions and behavior. Sawyer referred to his former employer, the Post-Dispatch, as an example of newsroom resources affecting the overall reach of journalism.

"There is less and less of that kind of commitment," he said. "The Post-Dispatch is a pale shadow of what it once was in terms of reporting."

Sawyer argued citizens may become the most mindful journalists in the future through technology like Web logs, so limiting the scope of what constitutes a free press in America through a law seems like the wrong direction.

caleb.hale@thesouthern.com

(618) 529-5454 ext. 5090