Raise the shields

Magazines aren't newspapers. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said so Friday.

Logically, Alabama's reporter's shield law should protect journalists who work for magazines. Illogically, the Legislature, which is still pretty good at illogic, forgot to include the word magazine in the law, so it doesn't. Lawmakers should close that coverage gap next year, but until then, the court's reading unfortunately was correct.