Their bleat for a "federal shield law" should be read as MSM's acknowledgement that they clearly and unmistakably broke the existing law and want greater license to calumnify whomever suits their purposes...which will lead to their eventual breaking of the new law followed by a new call for further license.

I suspect that they got word that the Supreme Court would rule against them and, in the process, restrict the virtually unlimited license for abuse granted by New York Times v. Sullivan...and they couldn't have that as they might then have to be responsible for their work.