Protecting Sources and Source Material
The ability to protect your sources and newsgathering materials is often critical to your being able to gather information and inform the public. In the course of assembling information for an article, post, podcast, or other work, you may obtain information that, for a number of reasons, you do not wish to make available to the public.
Ironically, confidentiality may be an essential part of bringing information to the public's attention because as a publisher, you may only be able to gather the information if you promise not to reveal the information's source. For example, reporting that involves the criticism of government and exposure of government and corporate wrongdoing often depends on the use of confidential sources.
Fortunately, the law provides tools with which to protect the information you obtain. Absent some kind of legal protection, a journalist or other individual gathering information for dissemination to the public may be compelled to identify his or her sources and produce documents in court and other governmental proceedings. Journalists and other citizens reporting the news have been asserting their right to keep their sources and materials confidential for longer than the United States has been an independent nation. In 1734, for example, John Peter Zenger refused to give the names of his sources when he was charged with seditiously libeling British Governor William Cosby of the New York Colony. Zenger, who was later tried and acquitted, was jailed for a month due to his refusal to identify his sources.
These legal protections are vital to the free flow of information in society. If reporters (and we use that term broadly here) are seen merely as an investigative arm of the government, individuals with information of great public concern may be afraid to share that information. As a result, the public may be deprived of information of critical importance to the proper functioning of our society and our democratic form of government.
The following sections address the legal challenges facing online publishers in maintaining the confidentiality of sources and source material and discusses the federal and state laws that may protect them from forced disclosure of this information.
Promising Confidentiality to Your Sources: In this section, we explain when promises of confidentiality made to sources are legally binding.
Legal Challenges to Protecting Confidentiality and Source Material: In this section, we address the legal methods by which others can demand information and other newsgathering materials from you.
Legal Protections for Sources and Source Material: In this section, we outline the legal protections that you can use to protect your information from legal demands.
Practical Tips for Protecting Your Sources and Source Material: In this section, we provide practical tips on how to protect your sources and other materials collected in the course of newsgathering activities.
State Law: Legal Protections for Sources and Source Material: In this section, we provide state-specific information about protecting sources and source material for the fifteen most populous U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
Newsgathering
Promising Confidentiality to Your Sources
Legal Challenges to Protecting Confidentiality and Source Material
Legal Protections for Sources and Source Material
Practical Tips for Protecting Your Sources and Source Material
State Law: Legal Protections for Sources and Source Material
‹ Inauguration Press Credentials up Promising Confidentiality to Your Sources ›
Entering the Property of Others
Gathering Private Information
Recording Phone Calls, Conversations, Meetings and Hearings
Acquiring Documents and Other Property
Documenting Public Proceedings and Events