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Confidential Sources and Information: A reporter's obligation to a source

Subpoena battles typically arise out of a journalist's commitment to keep his or her source confidential. Many reporters consider their promises to confidential sources to be sacred, and routinely have faced jail to protect their sources.

In 1991, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a confidential source may sue a news organization that reveals his identity without his consent.⁶ The Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment does not protect journalists from such suits, and left it to the states to decide whether media organizations would be subject to ordinary rules of contracts and "promissory estoppel" (in which a court enforces a promise made to a party who relied on it to his detriment).

Many news organizations have reexamined their policies on whether reporters have the authority to promise unconditional confidentiality to a source, or whether such undertakings can be overruled by editors. You should familiarize yourself with the policy in effect at your news organization.

Notes

6. Cohen v. Cowles Media, 501 U.S. 663 (1991).

Next section: Confidential Sources and Information: What to do when you are subpoenaed