Shaking puppies caked in feces. Rows of tiny kittens in cages. Horses so skinny you can count their ribs. We’ve all seen grainy undercover video that exposes animal cruelty. The video has been instrumental in changing laws and locking up people who profit at the expense of animals.

As a pet lover and former investigative TV reporter, I was appalled when I got the following in an “urgent” email from the Minnesota Humane Society:

“Two critical bills, S.F. 1118/HF 1369 (authored by Sen. Doug Magnus and Rep. Rod Hamilton – the chairs of the Senate and House Agriculture Committees) were introduced in the legislature this week.  If passed, these bills criminalize anyone blowing the whistle on animal cruelty (including puppy and kitten mills), food and worker safety, labor abuses, and environmental crimes, etc, by making it a crime to video tape and show footage shot inside a puppy/kitten mill or factory farm.  These bills also make the possession and distribution of this information (images) a crime, including possession and distribution by the news media.  Unfortunately similar bills have also been proposed in Florida and Iowa.”

Isn’t the role of investigative journalists is to expose truth and to hold people and government accountable? Isn’t video the most accurate way to depict a scene without bias or misinterpretation?

But wait – in addition to the typical evil media there are now especially sinister (cue the scary music and dim the lights) citizen journalists with hidden cameras lurking in the shadows, waiting to catch crimes on camera.  They will photograph what is happening in your barns and businesses and you won’t even have time to hide the carcasses (music fades).

Personally, I think this is about fear and misunderstanding of the press. People do not understand what happens in newsrooms. There are not reporters running around from house to house with a secret camera hoping to record something illegal. Whenever I wore an undercover camera or worked on story involving undercover cameras, there was a lot of planning, legal meetings and information gathering before the camera was turned on.

Maybe there is a misunderstanding of new media – citizen journalists with a passion for animals who want to expose truth? These days, all you need is a phone and YouTube to make a point and an impact.

My message is simple –  if you have nothing to hide; you have nothing to fear.

This post was written by Kristi Piehl and originally published on Media Minefield.