There are no other sources of a reporter's privilege in Alabama, but as in any case, a court may quash a subpoena on the grounds that the subpoena is unduly burdensome, ALA. See In re American General Life & Accident Ins. At least one court in another jurisdiction has also acknowledged that Alabama law provides a qualified reporter's privilege under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. When considering whether the qualified privilege protects a newspaper reporter's unpublished testimony and documents, an Alabama court held that the following three-part test must be satisfied: 1) The reporter must have information highly relevant to a claim or defense in the underlying litigation 2) There must be a compelling need for disclosure sufficient to override the First Amendment privilege and 3) The party seeking the information must have unsuccessfully attempted to obtain the information from other sources less chilling of First Amendment freedoms.
That no law shall ever be passed to curtail or restrain the liberty of speech or of the press and any person may speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects being responsible for the abuse of that liberty.Īlabama courts recognize a qualified reporter's privilege under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution however, there is not a significant amount of case law that discusses the scope of the privilege.
Alabama judicial consent free#
That the great, general, and essential principles of liberty and free government may be recognized and established, we declare: The preamble and Article I, Section 4 state: As originally enacted, the privilege extended only to newspaper employees, but as the forms of news media expanded to include radio and television broadcasting, the privilege was extended to reporters working in those media as well.Īlabama has not adopted a reporter's privilege based on the Alabama Constitution, but Article I, Section 4 provides a basis for the argument that the Alabama Constitution provides such a privilege. No person engaged in, connected with or employed on any newspaper, radio broadcasting station or television station, while engaged in a news-gathering capacity, shall be compelled to disclose in any legal proceeding or trial, before any court or before a grand jury of any court, before the presiding officer of any tribunal or his agent or agents or before any committee of the legislature or elsewhere the sources of any information procured or obtained by him and published in the newspaper, broadcast by any broadcasting station, or televised by any television station on which he is engaged, connected with or employed.Īla. Specifically, the statute provides as follows: The shield statute prohibits those persons from being compelled to disclose "sources" of information provided that the information was obtained or procured by the reporter and published in a newspaper, broadcast on a broadcasting station, or televised by a television station. Originally enacted in 1935, Alabama's shield statute provides an absolute privilege to persons engaged in a newsgathering capacity on behalf of a newspaper, radio station, or a television station. Although the case law addressing the shield statute and the qualified privilege under the First Amendment is not extensive, Alabama courts have demonstrated a willingness to uphold the privilege. Alabama also recognizes a qualified reporter's privilege under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Alabama judicial consent code#
Code § 12-21-142, provided that the information obtained from the source has been published, broadcast, or televised. In Alabama, a reporter has an absolute privilege to refrain from disclosing sources of information obtained in the newsgathering process under Alabama's shield statute, codified at Ala. Mathis of Johnston Barton Proctor & Rose LLP, Birmingham, Alabama. Special thanks to the original guide authors, Gilbert E. Agreement to partially testify act as waiver? Disclosure of non-confidential source's nameģ. Disclosure of confidential source's nameī. Subpoena not overbroad or unduly burdensomeĪ. What proof of search does a subpoenaing party need to make?Ĥ. Material unavailable from other sourcesī. Substantive law on contesting subpoenasĢ.
Filing an objection or a notice of intent Service of police or other administrative subpoenasĢ. Procedures for issuing and contesting subpoenasĥ. Others, including non-traditional news gatherers Published and/or non-published materialĢ. Confidential and/or nonconfidential informationį. Skip over table of contents to continue reading article Table of contents for Alabama