St. Maximos' Hut

For all who blog, an interesting opinion piece popped up over at the Accuracy In Media website. Addressing the Free Flow of Information bill currently pending, the article notes:

Senator Richard Lugar, main sponsor of the shield law in the Senate, has said that bloggers would "probably not" be considered journalists under the bill. On the other hand, Rep. Mike Pence, the main sponsor of the bill in the House, says some bloggers will be covered, but only those involved in "gathering news." He says those covered by the bill would have to be evaluated on a "blog-by-blog basis."

I confess that I have not been following the case law surrounding blogs and free speech, but there have been incidents of members of academia and the corporate world being punished for statements made in blogs they produce on their own time and dime. Indeed, we have several folks that are friends of "The Hut" who blog anonymously in light of the fact that the happy rainbow of inclusiveness is not really as all embracing as it is portrayed.
I wonder whether any of our dwellers in the Hut have any thoughts on the proposed legislation or related issues or cases.
The economic issues-potential suits and loss of livelihood-are pretty obvious. Perhaps the religious dimension is too, particularly as "hate speech" provisions are used selectively to muzzle free expression of certain religious ideas. Anyone care to light a torch on this?