The Legal Status of Reporter Privilege in Texas
Abstract
The disenchantment of youth with the political and social order of the '60s and early '70s pitted against a reactionary and frightened establishment provided a perfect breeding ground· for confidentiality cases. But because the stories about this conflict were often accompanied by actual, threatened, or suspected violations of the law, the apparent incompatibiltiy of two important social adjectives-the public's interest in an uninhibited flow of information about and an informed analysis of these events, and its interest in apprehending and punishing wrongdoers-came to a head.
To combat what they feel is harassment by grand juries and law enforcement agencies, journalists have continually plied the judicial system for an absolute reporter privilege. They have asked the courts for an exemption from having to disclose the information gained from and identity of confidential sources. But reporters and judges often have been at odds on this question.
The courts, and the grand juries and law enforcement agencies that work with them, have said that journalists should be treated like any other citizen-they should be compelled to disclose any information relevant to a case.
Journalists, however, counter that they should have an absolute privilege based both constitutionally on the First Amendment and on a common law principle similar to the attorney-client privilege. They point out that they have an ethical duty not to identify their sources and that compelled disclosure would have a "chilling effect" on the flow of information in this country-that it would "dry up" their sources, especially those dealing with controversial or investigative stories.
My research concentrates on how Texas courts and the Fifth Circuit of Appeals have decided in reporter privilege cases. But before one can understand the cases at the state and federal appellate levels, one must first explore the nature of the source-reporter relationship and then examine the opinions of the United States Supreme Court.
Description
Program year: 1996/1997Digitized from print original stored in HDR
Citation
Koepke, Jens (1987). The Legal Status of Reporter Privilege in Texas. University Undergraduate Fellow. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /CAPSTONE -KoepkeJ _1987.