Category: Sources

Former Liberal Party MP sues over reports about his preselection and his novel ... Protection of journalist's sources ... Newspaper rule ... Evidence Act (WA) ... Sources and assessment of QP reasonableness ... The balance of considerations against disclosure ... Public interest ... Carmel Galati reports ... more

Devastating judgment for journalism as the NSW Court of Appeal overturns the permanent staying of a preliminary discovery order … The Age is obliged to reveal its sources as part of an effective remedy in defamation … Hannah Ryan reports ... more

Slowly but surely Australian courts are applying the new shield laws protecting journalists from disclosing their sources … Media lawyer Peter Barlett reviews this trend in the wake of an important Victorian decision ... more

Strong judgment in favour of the protection of sources … Melbourne man named as mafia boss by The Age loses bid to identify the sources for a series of stories … Journalist privilege prevails ... more

Journalists’ sources under threat in the UK as parliament prepares to ratify the Investigatory Powers Bill … Gavin Millar QC warns that clause 61 could be used routinely by police to identify confidential contacts … This article from Media Lawyer ... more

The Age wins battle to protect confidential sources five years after Chinese Australian businesswoman Helen Liu first wanted to find out who they were … Protection comes at a high price – the statutory qualified privilege defence – as Justice Lucy McCallum stays her original disclosure order ... more

NSW Supreme Court Justice Lucy McCallum considers the “newspaper rule” afresh, this time in relation to the defences of honest opinion and comment … Fairfax must disclose sources or forfeit those defences … Rebecca Gall reports ... more

Hard-fought sources disclosure battle between Chinese businesswoman Helen Liu and The Age nearing an end … NSW Supreme Court Justice Lucy McCallum reserves her final decision as discreet settlement discussions continue ... more

An usual decision in the Singapore Court of Appeal upholds the protection of journalists’ sources … In this case a journalist/blogger who made allegations of corruption against the World Sports Group … Peter Bartlett reports ... more

Last orders, or not … The long and bitter battle over disclosure of The Age’s sources continues in the NSW Supreme Court, with Justice Lucy McCallum set to decide another threshold question almost four years after publication ... more

Gina Rinehart loses sources disclosure battle as a landmark judgment in WA upholds journalists’ shield laws … Media lawyer Peter Bartlett reviews the decision in light of several current challenges ... more

Confidential sources could be exposed after a recent decision in the NSW Supreme Court finds journalists’ privilege doesn’t apply to informants … Gail Noe reports ... more