Compared to the Marines and the Media panel I attended in the morning, the Open Source Media lunch I stopped by afterwards was a total letdown. First of all, I’m with Jeff Jarvis: What was Judith Miller doing there, and did they pay her to speak?

All she did was deliver a 20-minute sales pitch for the ill-conceived national shield law, which would grant reporters immunity from testifying against their anonymous sources. Sure, it wouldn’t cover all bloggers, she said, and it might in effect give the government the power to decide what’s journalism and what isn’t — who’s to say? That’s for the courts to decide after Congress passes the law (what a brilliant approach to lawmaking — pass ‘em all and let the 9th Circuit sort ‘em out).

In order to get into the real journalists’ club, Miller told the assembled bloggers, you should follow Miller’s five rules of responsible journalism. Jarvis lists these in his post, so I won’t waste time recapitulating them here — suffice it to say that they all derive from various greivances Miller has against bloggers who have attacked her. Why a bunch of bloggers would want to listen to such an harangue is beyond me.

Senator John Cornyn gave a much better speech afterwards via satellite, essentially arguing that a shield law was a dumb idea and that if journalists really wanted to strike a blow for the public’s right to know, they would be better served to: A) Lobby against the application of McCain-Feingold to Internet news providers like bloggers, and B) Lobby for reforms to the Freedom of Information Act, making it easier for reporters, bloggers and average Joes to get government information directly from the source.

I’m with Cornyn and against Miller. I’m undecided about Open Source Media. Perhaps the open bar cocktail party tonight will convince me.