Journalist's Privilege

• What is Journalist's Privilege?

• What competing social values are balanced in cases involving Journalist's Privilege?

• Explain the argument by some journalists that the First Amendment, which traditionally has been thought to protect the publication and distribution of information, gives them the right to refuse to reveal the identity of a confidential source.

• Does Journalist's Privilege exist as a constitutional right? As a statutory right? Common law right?
  • Branzburg v. Hayes (1972)

  • Taylor v. Miskovsky, 640 P.2d 959 (Okla. 1981)

• The criteria many courts now consider in determining if a journalist has a First Amendment right to refuse to testify (include Justice Stewart's three-part test from Branzburg v. Hayes (1972)).

• Can reporters be forced to release to prosecutors nonconfidential sources and notes, including outtakes from videotaped interviews?

• Oklahoma's shield statute:
  • Who is eligible for protection?
  • What information can be kept secret?
  • How much protection is offered?

• Is there a federal shield statute?

• What should a reporter know before agreeing to protect someone's identity?

• Can a reporter inadvertently waive journalist's privilege by disclosing the unpublished information to those outside of the news organization, even family?

• Does the First Amendment protect a journalist from being sued by a news source if the journalist breaks a promise of confidentiality, regardless of the newsworthiness and relevance of the name to the story? Why? Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. (1991)

• Newsroom Searches:
  • Zurcher v. Stanford Daily (1978)

  • Privacy Protection Act of 1980

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