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In the USA, federal circuit courts have recognized the First Ammendment right of journalists in the news media to conceal the identities of their confidential sources. ABC News is using this legal privilege to justify its refusal to divulge any information about the anonymous sources behind their story on Iran's uranium enrichment capabilities.
While this law only restricts the use of legal subpoenas against the press, I think it could be argued that it and the First Ammendment prohibits the government from attempting to regulate the press or to impose on it any legal standard of truth or accuracy.
Thus it falls to private organizations and individuals such as Glenn to hold the press accountable for the credibility of assertions that it claims are legally protected by Reporters' Privilege. What's interesting is how the internet provides us with one of the few publicly accessible media that is independent of the press itself. We're witnessing the emergence of what could be called a "Fifth Estate", watchdogs who stand outside the news media and demand public accountablity from the Fourth Estate of Constitutionally privileged journalism.
