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It has been held by many courts that the ability to keep sources secret aids in the flow of knowledge to the public and allows the press to function. Floyd Abr
by jimktrains2 13y ago
It has been held by many courts that the ability to keep sources secret aids in the flow of knowledge to the public and allows the press to function.
Floyd Abrams has an entire chapter on it in "Friend of the Court."
- Steko 13y agoIt certainly aids in the flow of knowledge to the public but so would a lot of clearly not allowable things like hacking celebrity phones.
- jimktrains2 13y agoYes, I'm not defending illegal acts, but it seems that many cases, _e.g._: Pentagon Papers and Watergate, could have only been done with protected confidential-sources.
- Steko 13y agoI'm not sure how persuasive that is because those things happened without the claimed protection. The reporter can certainly gain trust by saying he's willing to go to jail to protect the source.
- jimktrains2 13y agoIt's been pretty persuasive to this point, hence the shield laws that almost all states have put in place.