Journalists’ confidential sources: Reform lessons from recent Australian shield law cases
That journalism, especially journalism delving into serious impropriety, relies heavily upon a journalist’s ability to honour promises of confidentiality to sources, and therefore needs protection, has been well acknowledged. Former Attorney-General Philip Ruddock in proposing protection for journ...
Guardado en:
| Autor principal: | |
|---|---|
| Formato: | article |
| Lenguaje: | EN |
| Publicado: |
Asia Pacific Network
2014
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doaj.org/article/78e893ee71284b79ae1475f4aa4693cb |
| Etiquetas: |
Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
|
| id |
oai:doaj.org-article:78e893ee71284b79ae1475f4aa4693cb |
|---|---|
| record_format |
dspace |
| spelling |
oai:doaj.org-article:78e893ee71284b79ae1475f4aa4693cb2021-12-02T09:09:36ZJournalists’ confidential sources: Reform lessons from recent Australian shield law cases10.24135/pjr.v20i1.1901023-94992324-2035https://doaj.org/article/78e893ee71284b79ae1475f4aa4693cb2014-05-01T00:00:00Zhttps://ojs.aut.ac.nz/pacific-journalism-review/article/view/190https://doaj.org/toc/1023-9499https://doaj.org/toc/2324-2035That journalism, especially journalism delving into serious impropriety, relies heavily upon a journalist’s ability to honour promises of confidentiality to sources, and therefore needs protection, has been well acknowledged. Former Attorney-General Philip Ruddock in proposing protection for journalists’ confidential sources—commonly referred to as shield law—in the first such major federal level initiative, said ‘[t]his privilege is an important reform to evidence law’ (Explanatory Memorandum, 2007); and in the circumstances then prevailing ‘the protection of journalists is too important an issue to wait’ (Philip Ruddock, Second Reading Speech, 2007). In one instance the court went so far as to say that the importance of source protection was ‘entirely unexceptionable and in accordance with human experience and common sense’ (Liu, 2010, para 51). Are journalists’ confidential sources better protected with the advent of statutory protection in several Australian jurisdictions? The media does not think so (MEAA, 2013). Former Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus observed towards the end of his term of office: ‘Recent court proceedings have highlighted the inadequacy of protections for journalists in some jurisdictions and lack of uniformity in laws across Australia’ (Dreyfus, 2013). The current Commonwealth government in relation to national uniform shield law is unclear. The Australian shield law framework beckons reform and recent events indicate some potential reform areas.Joseph FernandezAsia Pacific NetworkarticleAustraliaconfidential sourcesinvestigative journalismmedia lawshield lawsourcesCommunication. Mass mediaP87-96Journalism. The periodical press, etc.PN4699-5650ENPacific Journalism Review, Vol 20, Iss 1 (2014) |
| institution |
DOAJ |
| collection |
DOAJ |
| language |
EN |
| topic |
Australia confidential sources investigative journalism media law shield law sources Communication. Mass media P87-96 Journalism. The periodical press, etc. PN4699-5650 |
| spellingShingle |
Australia confidential sources investigative journalism media law shield law sources Communication. Mass media P87-96 Journalism. The periodical press, etc. PN4699-5650 Joseph Fernandez Journalists’ confidential sources: Reform lessons from recent Australian shield law cases |
| description |
That journalism, especially journalism delving into serious impropriety, relies heavily upon a journalist’s ability to honour promises of confidentiality to sources, and therefore needs protection, has been well acknowledged. Former Attorney-General Philip Ruddock in proposing protection for journalists’ confidential sources—commonly referred to as shield law—in the first such major federal level initiative, said ‘[t]his privilege is an important reform to evidence law’ (Explanatory Memorandum, 2007); and in the circumstances then prevailing ‘the protection of journalists is too important an issue to wait’ (Philip Ruddock, Second Reading Speech, 2007). In one instance the court went so far as to say that the importance of source protection was ‘entirely unexceptionable and in accordance with human experience and common sense’ (Liu, 2010, para 51). Are journalists’ confidential sources better protected with the advent of statutory protection in several Australian jurisdictions? The media does not think so (MEAA, 2013). Former Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus observed towards the end of his term of office: ‘Recent court proceedings have highlighted the inadequacy of protections for journalists in some jurisdictions and lack of uniformity in laws across Australia’ (Dreyfus, 2013). The current Commonwealth government in relation to national uniform shield law is unclear. The Australian shield law framework beckons reform and recent events indicate some potential reform areas. |
| format |
article |
| author |
Joseph Fernandez |
| author_facet |
Joseph Fernandez |
| author_sort |
Joseph Fernandez |
| title |
Journalists’ confidential sources: Reform lessons from recent Australian shield law cases |
| title_short |
Journalists’ confidential sources: Reform lessons from recent Australian shield law cases |
| title_full |
Journalists’ confidential sources: Reform lessons from recent Australian shield law cases |
| title_fullStr |
Journalists’ confidential sources: Reform lessons from recent Australian shield law cases |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Journalists’ confidential sources: Reform lessons from recent Australian shield law cases |
| title_sort |
journalists’ confidential sources: reform lessons from recent australian shield law cases |
| publisher |
Asia Pacific Network |
| publishDate |
2014 |
| url |
https://doaj.org/article/78e893ee71284b79ae1475f4aa4693cb |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT josephfernandez journalistsconfidentialsourcesreformlessonsfromrecentaustralianshieldlawcases |
| _version_ |
1718398252194201600 |