Woman Blogs About Police, Goes to Jail. Fair? Unfair?

[Whacker]

I'm going to weigh in on the side of chickie here, I don't think she did anything wrong. As Xiahou pointed out, the accused has the right to know and face their accuser in a court of law. SLEO's are public servants and deal with issues of human rights daily, ergo they can and should be held to the utmost rigorous standards of conduct and public scrutiny. This is a key form of checks and balances for power.

And "normal" journalists should have no more or less rights and privileges than you or I. Unless I'm mistaken, journalist is not defined anywhere in the Constitution. It really gets my hackles up when they start talking about themselves like they're members of some special privileged caste.

For the most part, I would agree with you. However, Lemur does have a good point as well. I am generally in favor of "Shield" type laws. Information is power, and one of the ways that is disseminated to the masses is through media outlets. The many unsavory things that might not show our government or other entities in good lights need to get out into the open. A special caste? Hell no. But should journalists have a ways and means to go about their jobs with some manners of protection in place so they can actually do it? Sure.