Blog
ASNE joins on amicus brief in support of Patch reporter
- By: ASNE staff
- On: 03/26/2014 09:56:03
- In: Freedom of the press
ASNE joined 38 other media organizations and companies on an amicus brief filed in the Illinois Court of Appeals in support of Joseph Hosey, a Patch.com reporter who was ordered to identify in court the source who gave him a police report relating to an ongoing murder trial.
ASNE joined 38 other media organizations and companies on an amicus brief filed in the Illinois Court of Appeals in support of Joseph Hosey, a Patch.com reporter who was ordered to identify in court the source who gave him a police report relating to an ongoing murder trial.
Our brief asks this mid-level court of appeals to overturn the state trial court judge who met its burden under the Illinois state shield law because, in our view, the information in question was not sufficiently relevant to the case itself and the government didn't exhaust all other sources for this information. In addition to explaining the public interest in full and unfettered crime reporting, the brief discusses the role that anonymous sources often play and, finally, explains the historical strength of the Illinois law.
Although ASNE generally does not join on amicus briefs at such a low level in the court system, we believed this case merited our participation given our longstanding commitment to the reporter's privilege and the egregious misapplication of the privilege by the trial court.