I. Introduction: History & Background

The South Carolina General Assembly adopted a reporter's shield law in 1993 in response to a major lobbying effort by the South Carolina Press Association with assistance from the South Carolina Broadcasters Association. The only appellate decision involving the shield law arose out of the murder trial of Susan Smith, the woman who rolled her car into a lake with her young sons strapped in their car seats. Twila Decker, a reporter for The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C. had obtained access to information in a report on the court-ordered psychiatric examination of the defendant in spite of what the trial judge believed was an airtight order of confidentiality for the report. Decker was called to the stand by the court and interrogated as to her source. Upon refusing to disclose her source Decker was held in contempt. Her imprisonment was stayed pending an accelerated appeal to the Supreme Court of South Carolina.

Recent cases involving motions to quash subpoenas served on journalists have generally met with success. The major points of dispute have been the scope of coverage, e.g., who is a journalist, and the exhaustion of alternative sources for the information.