The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that a blogger is not the same as a journalist and therefore not protected under that state's shield laws, Reuters reported June 7.

Shellee Hale was sued for defamation after she said on an online forum that software company Too Much Media, based in New Jersey, supposedly profited from a security breach of a database that it owns. Citing anonymous sources, Hale said the company also threatened anyone who disputed its activities. She claimed her post was part of an investigation and she needed to protect her sources, which New Jersey's shield law allows journalists to do.

NJToday.net quoted the court’s opinion and also provided a PDF version of the ruling: “(Online) forums allow people a chance to express their thoughts about matters of interest. But they are not the functional equivalent of the types of news media outlets outlined in the Shield Law. Neither writing a letter to the editor nor posting a comment on an online message board establishes the connection with ‘news media’ required by the statute.”

But the New Jersey Supreme Court simply doesn't understand the digital age, argued Mike Masnick for TechDirt.com. "This isn't about the venue, but about the action," he said. "If the information was acquired in the course of journalism, it shouldn't matter where it was published."

Critics do see some good in the court's 5-0 decision as it also overturned an appellate court's ruling "that would have established stricter criteria for journalists to qualify for the protection," the Newark-based Star-Ledger reported.

"This is just a beginning to this conversation," Bruce Rosen, a representative the New Jersey Press Association, told the Star-Ledger. "This conversation is going to go on for years, but it’s a good place to start."

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which also noted the silver lining in Hale's legal loss, and the Society of Professional Journalists were among the media organizations that had rallied behind Hale.