TRENTON — A blogger from Washington State is not protected from revealing her sources for what she wrote about a Freehold-based software company on another website, the state Supreme Court said this morning.

The court said the on-line bulletin board is nothing more than a forum for discussions.

The case involving Washington State resident Shellee Hale more clearly defines whether bloggers receive the same type of protections as "traditional'' journalists in New Jersey but says they have to be writing for online sites "similar to traditional news media.''

Hale, a former Microsoft employee and a private investigator, argued she was preparing an article for her website, Pornafia, about the infiltration of pornography on the Internet when she posted her comments about Too Much Media Inc. in 2008.

In comments she posted to a message board on the website Oprano about a security breach by TMM, Hale claimed its owners had threatened her. TMM, which helps online adult entertainment companies track sales, sued for defamation and Hale sought protection of New Jersey so-called shield law from revealing her sources. TMM argued Hale is not a journalist and fabricated the purpose of her website to seek the protection.

A Superior Court judge in Monmouth County ruled in 2009 that the protection did not apply to Hale. An appellate panel later that year upheld that decision.

"Our focus in this case, though, is not on what the law protects,'' Chief Justice Stuart Rabner wrote for the unanimous court. "Instead, we are required to determine whom the legislature intended to cloak with an absolute privilege and, in particular, whether the law's reach extends to the use of message boards like Oprano.''

Previous Coverage:

• N.J. Supreme Court to rule whether blogger is protected by journalist shield laws

• Today in Trenton: N.J. Supreme Court to hear case of blogger sued for defamation

• Blogger in online porn company lawsuit wants case to go to N.J. Supreme Court

• N.J. appeals court hears arguments over whether blogger is protected by shield laws

• N.J. court rules blogger is not protected under shield law in porn company defamation case