Shield law

A panel of Hawaii lawmakers on Thursday approved a draft that severely limits the soon-expiring state reporter shield law.

The most current version of the bill -- seen as a compromise between House and Senate versions -- removes protections for free newspapers, expands the circumstances under which law enforcement authorities can subpoena journalists’ notes and excludes protections for bloggers.

Hawaii lawmakers are expected to meet again this week to work on reconciling competing versions of a bill to make the state’s reporter shield law permanent.

H.B. 622 was originally drafted to remove the law's June 30 expiration date. But lawmakers in both the state House and Senate passed amended versions of the bill limiting who can take advantage of the privilege.

A New Jersey blogger qualifies for protection under the state’s shield law and does not have to reveal the names of government officials she accused of wrongdoing, a judge ruled.

Subpoenaed Fox News journalist Jana Winter will have to return to a Colorado courtroom to possibly testify about who gave her sealed information in the James Holmes case, a judge ordered Monday.

However, Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos Samour said in Monday’s hearing that he intends to make Holmes’ lawyers “jump through all the hoops” before forcing Winter to share who gave her details of a notebook Holmes sent to his psychiatrist days before he allegedly opened fire in an Aurora movie theater, killing 12 people.

A Fox News reporter is scheduled to appear before a Colorado judge on Monday to testify about who leaked her information regarding the notebook of movie theater shooting suspect James Holmes.

A New York judge has signed a subpoena requiring a Fox News reporter to testify in Colorado about who gave her confidential information about a notebook James Holmes sent to his psychiatrist days before he allegedly opened fire on a crowded movie theater last July, killing 12 people.

A New Jersey Superior Court judge recently ordered a blogger to defend her status as a journalist and explain why the state's shield law applies to her in order to avoid revealing the names of government officials she accused of wrongdoing.

A District Court judge ruled this week that the Detroit Free Press must hand over documents and provide a witness in a long-running case involving former federal prosecutor Richard Convertino and his quest to reveal a reporter’s anonymous source.

Judge Robert Cleland’s ruling requires the Michigan newspaper to turn over documents directly or indirectly related to Convertino and present a witness who can testify at a February deposition for the former prosecutor's lawsuit against the Department of Justice.

In the first ruling under Wisconsin’s new shield law, a judge denied the state Department of Justice’s request to subpoena three journalists who reported on a farmer’s alleged criminal conduct .

The justice department was unable to show that the information they seek is unobtainable from other sources, as required by the 2010 law, said Sauk County Judge Guy Reynolds. But Reynolds, who ruled from the bench Thursday, added that he would reconsider the subpoenas if the state's other witnesses contradict the journalists' reports.

Documentary filmmakers are fighting a subpoena that would require them to hand over outtakes and notes, claiming that they are protected under New York's shield law.