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Reporter's Privilege



According to Google reporter's privilege is "reporter's protection under constitutional or statutory law, from being compelled to testify about confidential information or sources." Now reporter's privilege is always popping up in our news and I've never really understood it until now.

Buzzfeed was in court this past week in Florida when a judge was questioning who the confidential source was for the Trump Dossier. Buzzfeed stated that they should not have to release who the reporter was that worked on the controversial story. Now the big problem Buzzfeed is facing is the law suit from Russian tech creator Aleksej Gurbarev suing for defamation. The Trump Dossier had Gurbarev and his company named in the documents that discussed Trump's deep ties with Russia. Now the problem is with this lawsuit the court is demanding the name of a confidential source to be released which legally they do not have to. Buzzfeed is also boosting stories about sexual assault allegations made against the President even though the stories were published over 6 months ago.

Jamie Kalven was subpoenaed to discuss his sources in the huge court case involving three Chicago police officers who strategically planned to obstruct justice involving one of their former coworkers.  Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was accused and convicted of murder charges for shooting and killing Laquan McDonald. Kalven was asked to testify and reveal who his sources were after the three officers who were facing charges were taken to court. The Reporter's Committee gathered up 20 media organizations to help back up Kalven for not appearing in court. The Illinois Reporter's Privilege Act the committee made a brief that emphasized the act and how Kalven did not have to testify or reveal his sources of information. The committee then wanted to submit a second brief but before they could the court informed him that the subpoena had been withdrawn. Without reporter's privilege Jamie would have been forced to reveal his sources and put others at risk.

Reporter's privilege isn't something we think about everyday and how it affects the justice system. I was surprised to find out that the idea of Reporter's privilege wasn't passed by The House of Representatives until 2015. When it was passed 4 years ago there was a lot of controversy on how this one little rule could have a big affect in the courts. The main problem was people believed that the act was too broad and would basically allow anyone to avoid testifying in criminal court cases. But when we take a look at reporter's privilege in action today in cases like Laquan McDonald it protected sources and allowed reporter Jamie Kalven to share his story without having action taken against him for simply doing the right thing.



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