Journalists' Rights Tracker

Kansas needs a "shield law," not so much to support press efforts to write news of vital social interest, but to support the public and one of the world's most outspoken democracies.

A shield law is needed to protect news sources, defined as everyday people who on occasion learn something so outrageous and so vital to the public's well-being that, often at peril to their lives or careers, they decide they must speak out. I have witnessed people, particularly those working at the pleasure of government officials, trembling while revealing information about their bosses to me. [...]

First and foremost, good reporters do not want to use anonymous sources. Reporters prefer to name names, to be as transparent as possible so the public knows who says what and can look for agendas - hidden or obvious.

In most cases, a reporter... would use the anonymous source only as a jumping off point from which records would be sought and other people would be quoted, resulting in the same information being printed "on the record" and without any need to mention the original, anonymous source.

There are, of course, a few cases where an anonymous source is the sole source. A good reporter does not like these situations and most often simply will not write even a good story if the pivotal source is anonymous. However, to serve the greater public good, in rare situations a reporter and his editors may feel obligated to use an anonymous source. They would do so only if the source is credible and after the information has been checked as thoroughly as possible, including talking to anyone caught in the crosshair.

When stories using anonymous sources go to print, the subject of an expose may not like the result. Some -- the rich and powerful especially -- may seek revenge by using the courts in an effort to force a reporter to reveal where he got his information. Records and individuals who can prove the story true may be available elsewhere to the court, but that would be of no interest to a person seeking revenge. He would want to know who spilled the beans because he would want to "get medieval" on the person who dared speak out under the premise once used by the British in America: "The greater the truth, the greater the libel." Some powerful Americans to this day, it seems, still think as the British royalty of old, and far too many seem also to think like their Tory counterparts.

At this point, a key reason why a good reporter does not like to use anonymous sources should become apparent. A reporter, though having reported accurately, can nonetheless be jailed for refusing to divulge a source's name.