Posted: June 20th, 2017

You are a reporter for the Student Times. After promising that you would keep her identity secret, you recently interviewed a student at your school who admitted to dealing drugs while on campus. The story came out yesterday and you have just been served with a subpoena from your county’s prosecutor ordering you to turn over all your notes from the story and to reveal the name of your source. What should you do?

You are a reporter for the Student Times. After promising that you
would keep her identity secret, you recently interviewed a student at
your school who admitted to dealing drugs while on campus. The
story came out yesterday and you have just been served with a
subpoena from your county’s prosecutor ordering you to turn over all
your notes from the story and to reveal the name of your source.
What should you do?
a. Contact an experienced media lawyer immediately.
b. Simply destroy your notes from the interview as soon as you can.
After all, the prosecuting attorney can’t get what you don’t have.
c. Turn over the information and testify as ordered. Journalists are not
above the law and must comply with a validly issued and properly
served subpoena just like any other citizen, even if it means
“burning” a source.
d. Don’t worry about it. Prosecutors and lawyers frequently go on
“fishing trips” for information using subpoenas. Journalists are
protected by shield laws and qualified privileges that, as the name
suggests, “shields” them from having to reveal confidential
information or sources.