Eight newspapers and AP rally behind Apple bloggers

In a surprising turn of events eight US newspapers and Associated Press Agency filed a court brief which says they should be allowed to protect their sources.

In March, Apple won the right to see the bloggers’ e-mail records to find out who leaked information on upcoming products to them, which they published.

“For us, this case is about whether the First Amendment protects journalists from being turned into informants for the government, the courts or anybody else who wants to use them that way,” Mr Tomlin said.

Yay! So we are journalists. That sounds pleasing.

It is very good that they have decided to protect the bloggers. Any precedent set against the bloggers in court could equally well be used against traditional news agencies in future. It also in some little way vindicates the equivalence of bloggers with traditional news agencies.

Source: BBC