The New York Times Company v. Spears

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date Filed: July 30, 2025

Background: In 2023, then-University of Alabama basketball player Kai Spears sued The New York Times for false light and defamation over an article in which Spears was mistakenly identified as a passenger in a car connected to a deadly shooting. 

As part of the proceedings, Spears requested that the newspaper reveal the identities of the two confidential sources it had relied on for its reporting. The Times refused, invoking Alabama’s shield law and the First Amendment reporter’s privilege. 

In briefs submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Spears argued that Alabama’s shield law does not apply because the news article was published in print and online, and the online edition is not a “newspaper.” Additionally, although conceding that the shield law provides absolute protection to newspapers’ and broadcasters’ confidential sources, Spears argued that it protects only a source’s name and does not protect the Times from being forced to disclose other identifying information about its confidential sources. 

To help resolve the dispute, the district court asked the Alabama Supreme Court to weigh in on two questions: whether the state shield law applies to newspapers that are published online, and if so, whether the law protects against the disclosure not only of the source’s name, but also other information that would help identify the source.

Our Position: The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, joined by the Alabama Press Association and several news outlets, filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Alabama Supreme Court to answer yes to both questions, arguing that a decision to the contrary would harm the public interest, weaken the press, and undermine reporting in circumstances that extend far beyond this case.

• Alabama’s absolute shield law was among the earliest reporter’s privilege statutes and continues its historic protection for confidential sources.

• The Alabama Supreme Court should hold that the shield law encompasses an article published online by a newspaper.

• The Alabama shield law protects information disclosing confidential sources, and were it otherwise, it would not have the intended effect.

From the Brief: “Excluding those news outlets that maintain a website from the Shield Law’s protection would effectively write them out of the statute — and ignore the realities of the digital age.”

Related: To learn more about state shield laws, check out RCFP’s Reporter’s Privilege Compendium.