Pam Adams: Closed courts, opened minds

When a Peoria County judge kicked a local blogger out of juvenile court a few weeks ago, the blogosphere went a little wild.

Rich Miller, a political columnist who operates thecapitolfaxblog.com, nominated Judge Albert Purham Jr. for "jerk of the month" after Purham ruled that bloggers are not journalists under Illinois law. Bill Dennis, known as the Peoria Pundit (peoriapundit.com), opined at length: "The whole bloggers-can't-be-journalists thing not only really ticks me off, it's a threat to the First Amendment."