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In Search Of A Smoking Gun: Tortious Interference With Nondisclosure Agreements As An Obstacle To Newsgathering, Mark J. Chasteen
In Search Of A Smoking Gun: Tortious Interference With Nondisclosure Agreements As An Obstacle To Newsgathering, Mark J. Chasteen
Federal Communications Law Journal
In November 1995, the prominent CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes refrained from broadcasting an important interview with a former vice president of Brown & Williamson for fear of being liable for tortiously interfering with a confidentiality agreement between the employee and the tobacco company. This event illustrates a new concern facing media: specifically whether liability arises from broadcasting information that would be considered protected speech had the source not been a party to a nondisclosure agreement. It also illustrates an area of First Amendment jurisprudence that is as yet uncharted and for which there is no established standard that is easily …