The "Free Flow of Information Act" is the subject of a public hearing today before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. Dan Kennedy writes, "In an era defined by blogging, social media and citizen journalism, one of the key questions that comes up whenever shield laws are discussed is who should be covered. Many of us argue that it’s journalism, not journalists, that should be protected, and that if a lone blogger is able to convince a judge that she’s engaged in bona fide journalism, then she should be covered just as fully as someone who’s on staff at the Boston Globe. Fortunately, the bill being considered this week appears to allow for exactly that."

The rule at the old St. Petersburg Times was that reporters must never return to the newsroom without the name of the dog. "If the writer remembers to get the dog’s name, he or she will be curious enough and attentive enough to gather all the relevant details in their epiphanic particularity," Clark writes.

Duke University’s newly launched Reporters’ Lab is not building miniature helicopters or magic kitchen tables but the more practical, less sexy tools that make public-affairs journalism cheaper, easier, and faster.