What is the California reporters shield?
Originally enacted as Section 1070 of the Evidence Code, the people of California elevated the California reporter’s shield to the California Constitution in 1980, illustrating the voter’s “intention to favor the interests of the press in confidentiality over the general and fundamental interest of the state in having civil actions determined upon a full development of material facts.” The California Supreme Court has held that the California reporter’s shield provides “absolute protection to nonparty journalists in civil litigation from being compelled to disclose unpublished information.” It may be “overcome only by a countervailing federal constitutional right.
Originally enacted as Section 1070 of the Evidence Code, the people of California elevated the California reporter’s shield to the California Constitution in 1980, illustrating the voter’s “intention to favor the interests of the press in confidentiality over the general and fundamental interest of the state in having civil actions determined upon a full development of material facts.” The California Supreme Court has held that the California reporter’s shield provides “absolute protection to nonparty journalists in civil litigation from being compelled to disclose unpublished information.” It may be “overcome only by a countervailing federal constitutional right.”
