Today on the Potomac Local Podcast, we talk with Dr. Robert “Bob” Schneider, executive director of OmniRide.
The 30-minute discussion tackles these topics:
1. The opportunity the shutdown of Metro’s Blue and Yellow lines has created for OmniRide.
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By Saffeya Ahmed
Capital News Service
RICHMOND — Two delegates, both former journalists, introduced legislation Monday to protect student journalists from censorship and shield reporters from having to disclose confidential sources.
Dels. Chris Hurst, D-Montgomery, and Danica Roem, D-Prince William, urged the General Assembly to pass such legislation.
“Journalism matters. Facts matter,” Roem said. “We have to get this right.”
Sponsored by Roem, House Bill 2250 — introduced for the second year in a row — would protect members of the press from being forced by courts to reveal the identity of anonymous sources.
“The whole point of the shield law is to protect reporters from being jailed for protecting confidential sources,” said Roem, a former reporter with The Prince William Times.
In 1990, Roem’s former editor Brian Karem served jail time for withholding the names of anonymous sources while reporting in Texas.
“He did it to protect his sources’ confidentiality,” Roem said, “and to keep his word.”
Virginia is one of 10 states that does not implement shield protections for members of the press; Roem also pointed out that a federal shield law does not exist. HB 2250 includes a clause requiring sources to be revealed when there is an “imminent threat of bodily harm,” Roem said.
In addition to shield laws, Hurst said it’s urgent the legislature also pass HB 2382, which he is sponsoring. The bill would safeguard the work of student journalists from administrative censorship.
If the bill passes, Virginia would join 14 other states in providing protections for high school or college students. Half of the states with current protections for student journalists passed legislation in the last four years.
“Thorough and vetted articles and news stories in student media shouldn’t be subject to unnecessary censorship by administrators,” Hurst said.
Hurst has advocated for measures close to his heart since election to office in 2017. A former anchor and reporter for WDBJ 7 news in Roanoke, Hurst was dating Alison Parker, a fellow WDBJ reporter who was fatally shot on live TV in 2015, along with photojournalist Adam Ward.
The bill would create the freedom for student journalists to publish what they please without fear of administrative retaliation.The institution would be allowed to interfere only if  content violates federal or state law, invades privacy unjustifiably, creates clear danger or includes defamatory speech.
While the current legislation focuses on implementing protections for student reporters in public schools and universities, Hurst said he wants the protections to eventually encompass private institutions. He said the legislation was “something that would, as fast as possible, put protections in place for student journalists at our public schools, our public colleges and universities.”
These pieces of legislation come at a time when professional journalists are increasingly targets of violence. A 2018 report by Reporters Without Borders — a nongovernmental organization that promotes journalistic free speech worldwide — found nearly 350 journalists were detained, 80 killed and 60 held hostage by November. More than 250 reporters globally were jailed in 2018, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
On this edition of the Potomac Local Podcast, reporter Olivia Briscoe joins me to talk about her reporting on the Prince William County Landfill, and about how plastics are piling up there.Â
She reported this week that, since a decision made by China earlier this year to stop accepting used plastics for recycling, that waste has been piling up at the local landfill.Â
What's being done about, and how you can help recycle better on this edition of the Potomac Local Podcast.
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We’re getting a tour of the poultry barn at the Prince William County Fair on this episode of the Potomac Local Live Podcast.
Find out what goes into judging the best bird in Prince William County. There’s a lot more to it than you think.
And check out this week’s events at the Prince William County Fair now through Saturday, August 18.
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When it comes to our food, many of us know what we're eating but a lot of us don't know where it comes from.Â
We get a behind the scenes look at what it takes to raise show beef cattle entered into competition at the Prince William County Fair.
These cows are local, from Fauquier County, and on display at the Prince William County Fair.
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From a press release:Â
The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office will once again be participating in National Night Out, an annual event that promotes police-community relationships and neighborhood camaraderie and safety.
On Tuesday, August 7, 2018, communities throughout the county will hold neighborhood celebrations throughout the late afternoon and early evening. Events and activities can include block parties, cookouts, exhibits, flashlight walks, contests, and more.
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We're entering the "dog days" of summer as August begins.Â
The folks at Historic Manassas, Inc. made that the theme of this month's First Friday celebration, the monthly event that brings hundreds to the city's downtown. It will be held in Downtown Manassas from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 3, 2018.
And, because it's the dog days, it's all about pets this First Friday. They'll be treats, a doggie pool, a K9 costume contest and more.Â
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A sinkhole measuring 18 feet deep and 25 feet wide has crews with the Virginia Department of Transportation working overtime.Â
The hole formed last week in North Stafford after heavy rains in the area, and subsequently forced the transportation agency to close a portion of Eustace Road between Northhampton Boulevard and Legal Court.Â
With all of the rain we've seen this summer, VDOT tells us it's been a uniquely challenging, an unusual season. The agency is working on two major repair projects in Stafford County following heavy rains -- a sinkhole, and a slope failure on Bells Hill Road.Â
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Sarah Nucci, a preservationist in Prince William County, joins us today on the Potomac Local Podcast.
She discusses an award-winning effort to preserve poll books used to track Prince William County voters during the turn of the 20th century.
And, as any student of U.S. history might expect, blacks were not treated the same as whites at this time.
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