No newsroom searches were reported by respondents in 2001. However, this does not mean that no newsroom was searched that year. In 1999, no respondents reported being searched. In 1997, five of the 597 respondents reported that law enforcement officers searched their newsrooms during the year. In 1993, three of the 900 responding news outlets reported having their newsroom searched. Two of the 1,010 news organizations responding in 1991 reported having their newsroom searched. No respondents reported being searched in 1989.

The federal Privacy Protection Act generally prohibits federal and state employees from searching a newsroom. The act provides limited exceptions that allow the government to search for certain types of national security information, child pornography, evidence that the journalists themselves have committed a crime, or materials that must be immediately seized to prevent death or serious bodily injury. Although the act applies to state law enforcement officers as well as federal authorities, eight states — California, Connecticut, Illinois, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oregon, Texas and Washington — have their own statutes providing similar or even greater protection.6