With the ease of posting on the internet, how does one define a journalist? Is Matt Drudge a journalist with millions of hits on his site? He gets a lot more readers than the East Podunk Shopper-News. Can I get a pass on these laws and others if I have a blog and call it the KarlInOhio Journal? Or do only newspaper writers and TV reporters get the protection?
That was exactly the basis of the judge's decision in the New Jersey case I referenced above. She set an objective standard for what constitutes a "journalist," and then determined that the housewife/blogger met all of these criteria.
The most important consideration, from what I recall, was that the person in question was involved in the gathering of information for the purpose of disseminating it to the general public. Howdy doody, your honor! -- that description fits just about anyone who posts regularly on websites like this one.