Journal Entry #7 - WikiLeaks and Whistleblowers

To help protect journalists and their anonymous sources from search warrants, the government passed a new law.  It is known as the Journalism Source Protection Act, or Bill S-231.  After news about Montreal and Quebec police spying on journalist had been spilled, Conservative Senator Claude Carignan introduced this law back in 2016.  It was passed unanimously by the legislation with all three main political parties in favor of it.

This new bill gives journalist the right to refuse to disclose information or documents that could identify a source who had requested to remain anonymous. Search warrants will only be granted if a judge decides there is no other way to get it, or if the investigation becomes more important than the public's interest of protecting a source.

Click here to read more about the new law. 

I think that this new law is a great way to help journalists out.  They have to make very tough decisions in their work, and it is not always a black and white situation. This law gives them more security, and may make their decisions a little more easier.  If they know that they're anonymous source can actually remain anonymous, they can inform the public on the important issues that they wish to address, but do not want to risk identifying a source. With the protection from search warrants, Journalists can be more open to releasing information.

There is no right or wrong action when it comes to releasing information that might be important for the public to know, because if they want to release it for the purpose of the public being in the know they should be allowed, but if they believe that it will risk the safety of the public and do not wish to release it than they do not have to.  It is a very grey area and I think that there is no right or wrong answer.

This is all very important in journalism because with more protection and security, Journalists can be more relieved when releasing information.  They do not have to worry about their "anonymous" source ever becoming not anonymous, and they do not have to worry about being spied on, or search warrants.