Lucy Dalglish

On Tuesday April 29 the New York State Press Association and the University at Albany journalism program sponsored, Lucy Dalglish, to come speak with the journalism students about the rights protected under the first amendment. Dalglish has been the Executive Director of Reporters Committee for Freedom of Press since 2000. Two main topics that Dalglish covered during her presentation had to do with the Federal Privacy Act and Federal Shield Law. The Federal Privacy Act states that anyone can sue the executive branch agency if they feel that confidential information about you was made public. The Federal Privacy Act relates to army scientist Steven Hatfill, who was named a suspect in the 2001 anthrax case. Hatfill felt his life had been ruined by these accusations that have yet to be proven true by the court, and under this act he can gain financial compensation for the defamation of his character.
The Federal Shield Law does not currently exist however; the government has recently made great gains in allowing the vote to pass for it to become an official law. Each state has a different shield law, and according to Dalglish New York State’s is among the top five in the nation. A Shield Law protects the reporter from being forced into revealing their sources to the government, therefore enabling the reporter to have to testify in court about the validity of their sources. The Shield Law is an essential part of journalism because no one would speak to a reporter as a source if they have to worry about being questioned in court. Therefore if a journalist promises not to release the name of the source, that promise is fully upheld and the reporter will not disclose the information. If a journalist does not disclose the information of the sources to the government legal action can and will be taken against them. A perfect example of this is Toni Locy who is currently being fined $5,000 a day until she discloses her sources from an article she wrote about anthrax and Steven Hatfill.