Senate OKs bill expanding Sotto Law to cover broadcast, online journalists

The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading a bill expanding the Sotto Law protecting media practitioners from revealing their sources.

Senate Bill No. 1255 would amend the 70-year-old Republic Act No. 53 known as the Shield Law or Sotto Law upon the proposal of Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III’s grandfather, the late Senator Vicente Yap Sotto. The existing law was solely confined to print media.

Senator Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate public information committee and sponsor of the measure, said the proposal would expand the Sotto Law to cover broadcast and online journalists as well as foreign and local wire news services from revealing their sources.

“We now receive news not just through print media but also through broadcast media such as television, radio and the internet,” Poe said.

Poe, however, emphasized that the Shield Law could not be used to protect a person from libel.

She said the law would protect media practitioners from being compelled or forced to reveal their sources but “not from spewing out malicious imputations under the guise of journalism.”

“Through this law, we want to embolden whistleblowers to speak out. If they cannot approach government institutions, then they should at least be able to approach the media,” Poe said. — Kathrina Charmain Alvarez/RSJ, GMA News