Privilege and Responsibility
The Shield law is a privilege, not a right. We grant journalists the privilege of shielding their sources to further the public good. Because some stories will never see the light of day unless someone betrays their trust to lay a foundation for those stories.
In turn, journalists have the responsibility to exercise that privilege wisely. Just because a source asks to be shielded, it doesn't mean that the source has to be shielded. It requires a judgement call that the public good generated by the story outweighs damages accrued along the way.
Sometimes you buy a pig in a poke. You promise to shield a source for what turns out to be a non-starter. And you have to live up to that promise. But how does revealing confidential information about Apple's upcoming products serve the public good?I think that some bloggers will eventually be upheld as journalists. I just don't think that the result of Apple v. Does or Apple v. ThinkSecret is going to set that standard.