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Introduction

On a Sunday afternoon in March 1970, a group of journalists and media lawyers, concerned over FBI attempts to find the sources for journalists' reports on radical groups, gathered at Georgetown University to create an organization that would be available around the clock to provide legal assistance to any working reporter, anywhere in the United States, without charge. For more than 30 years, The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has carried out that vision, giving legal advice to thousands of journalists and producing publications to help them do their jobs.

The First Amendment Handbook is one of those publications. First produced in 1986, and updated regularly since then, this booklet is designed to provide a basic primer on the laws affecting reporters' rights to gather and disseminate news.

At a time when newsgathering techniques are under increasing scrutiny, big business tries to intimidate news organizations by filing lawsuits based on novel tort theories ranging from fraud to breach of duty of loyalty, courts order journalists to jail for refusing to disclose confidential sources, and government officials are finding new ways to close down access to public information in the name of national security, American journalists need to be aware of the many potential pitfalls that await them, and of how they might avoid them. They need to know their rights, and how to fight back when they are threatened. The First Amendment Handbook is an important weapon in that fight.

In addition to helping reporters at home, The First Amendment Handbook has traveled the world, communicating the principles of a free press to journalists and lawmakers in developing democracies around the world in a succinct, easy-to-understand manner.

A booklet like this can never be a substitute for advice from a news organization's attorney, or for guidance from the Reporters Committee's legal staff. But we believe that the Sixth Edition of The First Amendment Handbook will, like its predecessors, find a useful place in the pockets and desk drawers of members of the working press, to whom our work is dedicated.

The latest edition of The First Amendment Handbook is available in two formats -- our familiar pocket-sized booklet, and an online version. Production of both has been underwritten by the Scheide Fund. Additional support was provided by the Scripps Howard Foundation. The electronic edition can be found on the Reporters Committee's home page, www.rcfp.org.

The Reporters Committee would like to acknowledge the extensive efforts of our 2002- 2003 fellows, Jennifer LaFleur, Gil Shochat, Wendy Tannenbaum and Sara Thacker; our Summer 2003 legal interns, Emily Harwood and Katrina Hull; and our staff attorneys, Gregg Leslie and Rebecca Daugherty. They built upon the work of our previous fellows and interns who contributed to earlier editions of this booklet. Our sincere thanks to them all.

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