I was all excited, until I got to the end

I thought I had an unmitigatedly positive piece of news to report, but things never work out quite that smoothly. It seems that Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) has introduced a bill that would provide journalists with "an absolute privilege for protecting the identities of confidential sources, meaning the right cannot be overcome by demonstrating competing interests."

Sounds great, right? that's what I thought until I got to the last line of the report on The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press site:

The shield provision would cover publishers, broadcasters and wire services and those who work for them. The definition would include freelance journalists who are working for a publisher or broadcaster, but not those without contracts or those who publish solely on the Web.

Umm, why the hell not?

Tangentially, this is my first post in several days after a rather hectic week at work. I'm learning how difficult it is to keep up with the blog every day, and the lesson increases my respect for those who manage to do so.