II. Authority for and source of the right

Neither the Utah Constitution nor the Utah Code explicitly recognizes a reporter’s privilege.  However, in January 2008, the Utah Supreme Court adopted Utah Rule of Evidence 509, which creates a privilege for reporters.  Utah appellate courts have yet to apply this rule, although prior to this rule, both the Utah Supreme Court and the Utah Court of Appeals mentioned in dicta the existence of some form of newsgathering protection based on Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665 (1972). See Redding v. Jacobsen, 638 P.2d 503 (Utah 1981); State v. Krueger, 975 P.2d 489 (Utah Ct. App. 1999). Various Utah trial courts and the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah also found a qualified First Amendment privilege based not only on Branzburg but also Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee Corp., 563 F.2d 433 (10th Cir. 1977).