The Federal Constitution and shield laws
In order to protect freedom of the press, including the right to gather news without interference, reporters from traditional news sources, television, radio, and print, have had the federal Constitutional protection of reporter’s privilege. This privilege is the right to keep secret sources of information and unpublished information from those sources. In determining the breadth of reporter’s privilege, the Courts consider the availability of the information through other avenues and the litigants interests in obtaining that information through subpoena of the reporter.
This balance is usually enhanced in favor of reporters privilege through state and federal shield laws. These laws extend and enhance reporter’s privilege through legislation supporting freedom of the press. Increasingly these laws are extending reporter’s privilege to Internet reports whose function is gathering and reporting news.
There have been several high profile cases about reporter’s privilege and the Internet and cases continue to surface in the courts throughout the states. A case which garnered a great deal of attention, Apple vs Doe, was the Apple Insiders Case. In California unknown Apple employees leaked upcoming product information to several web blogs. These blog owners were subpoenaed for their sources. The California Court of Appeals upheld the report’s privilege under California’s Shield Law.