Journalists' Privilege

Book excerpt: Though the Supreme Court concluded that the First Amendment does not provide a journalists¿ privilege in grand jury proceedings, 49 states have adopted a journalists¿ privilege in various types of proceedings. Journalists have no privilege in fed. proceedings. This report discusses how Congress has considered creating a journalists¿ privilege for fed. proceedings, and bills to adopt a journalists¿ privilege were introduced in the 110th and 111th Congresses in both the House and Senate. These bills generally would provide for a more narrow privilege than the privileges provided by state laws. This is a print on demand edition of an important, hard-to-find report.