Archived Story

In Net age, take time to find truth - Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008

Montana has one of the strongest shield laws in the nation. The courts generally take a broad view of the law that protects journalists and news organizations from having to disclose their sources. At times in the past, however, there have been some questions as to what, exactly, constitutes a “journalist” or a “news organization.”

In 2001, a court ruled that the Media Confidentiality Act, widely known as a “shield law,” applied to a University of Montana journalism student who took film footage of the 2000 riots in downtown Missoula. And earlier this month, the 13th Judicial District found that shield law protections apply to anonymous commentators on a newspaper's Web site, just as a reporter's anonymous sources are protected.

The decision arose out of a civil lawsuit filed by 2004 Public Service Commission candidate Russ Doty against successful PSC candidate Brad Molnar, claiming that Molnar had libeled and slandered Doty. Doty suspected Molnar of posting anonymous comments about him on the Billings Gazette Web site, and so slapped the Gazette with a subpoena seeking information about its online commentators.

We applaud the court for its decision preserving the shield law. Sometimes, anonymous sources are the only way for news organizations to gather information of vital importance. Anonymity is not, however, something we take lightly, especially given the overwhelming increase in the number of personal insults and false rumors made possible by the anonymity of the World Wide Web.

Consider some of these widely circulated lies about Sen. Barack Obama, and more recently, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin:

Barack Obama is Muslim, was sworn into his Senate seat using the Quran, refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance and covered the image of an American flag when he renovated his campaign plane. All untrue.

Sarah Palin banned books from public libraries, cut funding for special needs education and was once a member of a secessionist party. Again, not true.

So far, Sen. Joe Biden seems to be avoiding the worst of the rumor mill. Sen. John McCain has certainly seen his share of smears, most notably during his election run in 2000. Then, the claim that he had fathered an illegitimate black child was widely circulated. Never mind the fact that he and his wife had actually adopted the child in question from Bangladesh.

None of these rumors are true, yet many people seem to be taking it for granted that they are. They forward the e-mails instead of deleting them and, in some cases, they write indignant letters to the Missoulian. We do our best to catch the worst of the online rumors, often running them through fact-checking sites like Snopes.com or Factcheck.org. We do not publish personal attacks.

The Missoulian recently began providing a forum for online reader comments on local stories posted on our Web site, www.missoulian.com. Our hope is that this forum will encourage more people to share their questions, comments and concerns while deepening their level of participation in communitywide discussions. Unfortunately, those comments already have included a number of scurrilous anonymous messages of the sort that plague most Internet news sites.

Our goal is to encourage a thoughtful debate driven by the issues. It's a goal we believe we share with our readers. So the next time a scandalous e-mail pops up in your inbox, or you happen across a blog filled with hurtful comments from anonymous writers, take a minute or two to ferret out the truth.

In this new age of instant information, an old adage still applies: Don't believe everything you read.
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Felicia Tost wrote on Sep 24, 2008 9:04 AM:

" Sarah Palin may not have banned books, however, as newly elected mayor of Wasilla she did speak with the librarian about the librarian's willingness to ban books. When the librarian spoke out in a public forum with a resounding negative on that suggestion, she was sent a termination letter. Widespread public support for the librarian caused her to be reinstated. Sarah Palin did not ban books, but she did try. "

Q Bert wrote on Sep 24, 2008 10:49 AM:

" I second that Felicia! Palin attempted to ban books but did not succeed because a librarian had some spine! "

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