How Effective Are Shield Laws?
A surprising aspect of the survey responses concerned whether the media respondent in a state is covered by a shield law. In 2001, 31 states and the District of Columbia had shield laws. News organizations in shield law states reported receiving an average of 3.1 subpoenas per outlet, while news organizations in non-shield law states reported an average of 1.7 subpoenas per outlet. Other years have shown similarly unexpected results. In 1999, shield law state outlets reported an average of 3.4 subpoenas, while non-shield law states reported 2.3. In 1997, shield law state outlets received an average of 4.7 subpoenas per outlet, compared to 4.3 in non shield law states. Nevertheless, the responses from media organizations suggest that shield laws did make a difference in 2001 in whether a subpoena was quashed. The quash rate for shield law states was 22 percent, compared to 5 percent in non-shield law states. Several respondents in shield law states expressed how their shield law benefit
