MONMOUTH COUNTY, N.J. – For cyber-journalist Shellee Hale, the slander lawsuit in which she is the defendant is about more than just a perceived grudge or a company’s hurt feelings. Hale sees issues of significance to the very fabric of the Web-publishing model.

“This is truly an important case as we address the merging of mainstream journalism, blogging, citizen journalism and the credibility of an author and their means of collecting, researching and disseminating news converge on a popular medium, the Internet,” she wrote in an email to Daily Babylon on Friday.

Hale is under fire from Freehold, N.J.-based Too Much Media, the developer of the NATS affiliate-management software that runs the back ends of many adult entertainment websites. TMM accused Hale of slandering the company in posts she made to webmaster forum Oprano. According to Hale, the posts sought additional information about a security breach NATS suffered in 2007. According to TMM, Hale’s posts were intended to defame the company.

TMM’s lawsuit seeks punitive damages, but not compensation for actual harm.

“The comments and questions I made to a group on the Oprano forum [were made with the] purpose of continuing to collect information for a story” she intended to write for the now-defunct website Pornofia.com, Hale told Daily Babylon. They “were not intended to defame or slander anyone but were asked with the sole purpose of expanding on research I was doing for a story.”

Hale said among her primary concerns in defending the lawsuit is protecting the identities of confidential sources with whom she spoke during her investigation. Among the things TMM wants the court to order is the unmasking of those sources. Hale said she and her attorneys believe TMM wants the information in order to harass people who talked to her.

Courts generally have upheld press shield laws and traditions except in cases where reporters may have inside knowledge about significant criminal activity. A question remains about how far the press shield extends beyond the boundaries of traditional news reporting, and Hale said her case may establish a precedent in that area.

“I truly believe in the shared media space of the blogging world and journalism online and the importance of a clarification of the laws to meet with the current technological means of delivery of news and information,” Hale told Daily Babylon. “The shield privilege is necessary to protect the confidential witnesses I spoke with, and I hope that I will prevail in this case.

“A journalist, blogger, or citizen activist researching the facts of a story has a method of gathering information and fact checking the information. To be stifled in the middle of this process by litigation has been a setback for me personally, but I believe in my position and that the privilege will apply and I should not have to reveal my confidential sources for the story I was working on.

“Hopefully we will have a favorable opinion in the next couple of months,” Hale added. “I am represented by a team of brilliant New Jersey attorneys led by Jeff Pollock, Barry Muller and Joseph Schramm of Fox Rothschild, John Prindiville of Barry & Prindiville and Arizona attorney Charles Carreon of Online Media Law.”

Testimony in the hearing about the role of press-shield laws in this case concluded Thursday. Hale said the judge has promised to render an opinion by mid-June.