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By Nicole Maxwell
Journalism, a constitutionally protected profession enshrined in the First Amendment, is the subject of a proposed law update.
HB 153 would prohibit state agencies from coercing a journalist to reveal their sources, communications or documents related to their work.
“[HB 153] updates and strengthens protections for journalists and mediums of communication by defining journalists and mediums of communication in ways that journalism is done,” Rep. Sarah Silva, D-Las Cruces, said at the House Consumer and Public Affairs meeting Tuesday. “This is a preventative statute that updates definitions of journalism and journalists so that we don’t have to test whether a state agency would or could go after a journalist.”
Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo, was one of the two committee members to vote against it, but said he might reconsider his position if the bill makes it to the House floor.
“We definitely want to make sure that folks are being able to exercise their First Amendment right. I mean, that’s super American, and this would give extra rights to journalists, so I don’t know about that… I do think that it’s important, at least, to protect the profession,” Block said.
Rep. Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park, was initially not given a chance to debate the bill because she didn’t request to do so in time. But she was ultimately allowed to explain her dissenting vote.
“I got thrown out of order because I wanted to ask questions on this very important bill. But I think what I will say, it’s very frustrating that if I was a Democrat, I would have been allowed to go ahead and ask the questions,” Lord said, “Because I’m not, I’m not going to be able to get them. So I’m just going to say that I am absolutely voting ‘no’ on this bill because I don’t know enough about it.”
In the bill, a journalist is defined as someone who “gathers, prepares, collects, photographs, records, writes, edits, reports, investigates or publishes news or information that concerns local, national or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public.”
The bill goes on to the House Judiciary Committee.
