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The Newsman's Privilege: An Empirical Study, Vince Blasi

Michigan Law Review

Today, the statutory, common-law, and constitutional aspects of the long-dormant problem are being re-examined by many legislators, judges, and academicians. The Supreme Court is scheduled to address the constitutional question some time this term. I propose to enter this fray. In this article, I will report the results of an empirical survey that I have undertaken. In subsequent articles, I will analyze the eighteen state statutes that grant newsmen a privilege, consider whether protection for the reporter-news source relationship is compelled by existing common-law principles, and address the question whether a newsman's privilege is properly to be inferred from the …