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Confidential Sources and Information: Sanctions

If a reporter refuses to comply with a subpoena after being ordered by a court to do so, the court may impose a sanction.

The reporter may be held in contempt. Civil contempt can result in a fine or incarceration, which terminates when the reporter divulges the information sought or when the underlying proceeding is completed.

Criminal contempt may be used to punish an affront to the court, such as a reporter's obstruction of court proceedings by refusing to testify. Criminal contempt will result in a fine and/or sentence, but unlike civil contempt, the jail sentence is for a set period of time and does not end if a reporter decides to testify.

Some state shield laws provide that reporters cannot be held in contempt for refusing to testify.

If a reporter is a party to a case, such as a defendant in a libel or privacy suit, and refuses to reveal a confidential source or unpublished information, some courts will rule that the reporter automatically loses the suit.⁸ A court also may prohibit the reporter or news organization from introducing evidence gathered from confidential sources. Or, the court may presume as a matter of law that the reporter never had a confidential source, whether or not this is the case. This means that the reporter may lose the suit unless he or she decides to disclose the source.

Notes

8. Ayash v. Dana Farber Cancer Institute, 13 Mass.L.Rptr. 1, 30 Media L. Rep. 1825 (Mass. Super. April 2001).

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