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    Digital Journalist's Legal Guide
    Tablet and mobile phone showing news online

    Everything online journalists need to protect their legal rights. This free resource culls from all Reporters Committee resources and includes exclusive content on digital media law issues.

    Reporter's Privilege

    This section covers the use of subpoenas to force journalists to disclose their confidential news sources and unpublished information. Shield laws exist in forty states; if a reporter isn't covered by a shield law, there may still be a constitutional privilege that helps protect sources and information. This section also covers official attempts to seize journalists' work product and documents without a warrant.

    New York Times reporter asks judge to quash subpoena

    Clara Hogan | Reporter's Privilege | Feature | June 22, 2011
    Clara Hogan
    Feature
    June 22, 2011

    New York Times investigative reporter James Risen officially asked a federal judge yesterday to quash a government-issued subpoena for his testimony about a confidential source in the criminal trial of a former CIA official accused of leaking classified information.

    College: Academics also deserve protection from subpoenas

    Aaron Mackey | Reporter's Privilege | Feature | June 10, 2011
    Aaron Mackey
    Feature
    June 10, 2011

    Academics archiving the oral histories of the decades-long Troubles in Northern Ireland should be protected from subpoenas in ways similar to the protection given to journalists, attorneys for Boston College argued this week.

    Colorado case could affect online comment rights

    Clara Hogan | Reporter's Privilege | Feature | June 7, 2011
    Clara Hogan
    Feature
    June 7, 2011

    A federal judge in Colorado is considering a case that could affect the developing law concerning rights of anonymous Internet posters.

    N.J. shield law not limited to professional journalists

    Aaron Mackey | Reporter's Privilege | Feature | June 7, 2011
    Aaron Mackey
    Feature
    June 7, 2011

    A New Jersey Supreme Court decision announced Tuesday should make it easier for individuals associated with online publications and traditional media to invoke the protections of the state’s shield law.

    New York Times reporter subpoenaed by U.S. government

    Clara Hogan | Reporter's Privilege | Feature | May 24, 2011
    Clara Hogan
    Feature
    May 24, 2011

    The U.S. Department of Justice issued a subpoena yesterday for the testimony of a New York Times reporter in the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA operations officer accused of leaking classified information, highlighting a trend of government attempts to use journalists’ testimony in cases against government employees who reveal government information in exchange for anonymity.

    Separate look at each charge needed to overcome privilege

    Kristen Rasmussen | Reporter's Privilege | Feature | May 9, 2011
    Kristen Rasmussen
    Feature
    May 9, 2011

    A West Virginia trial judge erred when she ordered a newspaper to reveal the identities of anonymous sources and documents in a defamation suit against the paper, the state’s highest court recently ruled.

    The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia returned the case to the lower court, which must identify and analyze each allegedly defamatory statement and the confidential source who made the statement separately.

    Whistleblowers not protected for leaks to the media

    Kacey Deamer | Reporter's Privilege | Feature | May 4, 2011
    Kacey Deamer
    Feature
    May 4, 2011

    A district court decision that disclosing information about fraud or securities violations to the media is not protected under the whistleblower provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was affirmed on Tuesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco (9th Cir.), sitting in Seattle.

    Detroit Free Press reporter's subpoena battle with former terrorism prosecutor nears end

    Federal shield law that likely would have protected David Ashenfelter unlikely anytime soon
    Feature
    Page Number: 
    21
    Kristen Rasmussen

    From the Spring 2011 issue of The News Media & The Law, page 21.

    A federal judge recently all but ended a lengthy legal battle that centered around a reporter’s confidential sources and came to epitomize the need for a federal shield law.

    Meanwhile, media advocates conceded that the failure to secure passage of a shield law during the last congressional term was a “missed opportunity” that likely will not arise again before the presidential election in fall 2012.

    The News Media and The Law, Spring 2011

    Hawaii Senate committee approves shield law extension

    Rachel Costello | Reporter's Privilege | Feature | April 8, 2011
    Rachel Costello
    Feature
    April 8, 2011

    The Hawaii Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee unanimously voted on Thursday to pass a two-year extension of the state shield law, which protects journalists from the compelled disclosure of their sources and newsgathering materials.

    The bill is scheduled to go before the full Senate. The House has already approved the measure.

    Amended Arkansas shield law will protect more reporters

    Kacey Deamer | Reporter's Privilege | Feature | April 6, 2011
    Kacey Deamer
    Feature
    April 6, 2011

    The Arkansas governor signed late last month an amendment to the state shield law that will protect television and Internet reporters from the compelled disclosure of their sources. The amended act will go into law 90 days after the state legislature officially adjourns.