AFP says source immunity for journalists is limited ... MEAA code of ethics should be read down ... Warrant proportionate to the importance of the matter under investigation ... Defence Act ... No direct connection between ABC's Afghan report and David McBride ... Decision reserved ... Stephen Murray reports ... more
Category: Sources
Australian Broadcasting Corporation v Martin Kane & Others
Challenge to the AFP search warrant on the ABC's HQ ... The Afghan Files ... AFP officer said the public interest defence was "only a defence" ... Other stories threatened ... Potential impact of the raid on journalism and sources of public interest information ... Free press ... Implied freedom of political communication ... Warrant too wide and uncertain ... Stephen Murray reports ... more
Jensen v Nationwide News Pty Ltd [No.6]
Former Liberal politician failed in an earlier attempt to discover journalist's sources ... Now he attempts to subpoena Telstra for journalist's record of phone communications ... WA Chief Justice Quinlan upholds part of plaintiff's subpoena for information from The Australian and its journalist Andrew Burrell ... However, the sources are off limits ... Journalist's counter-claim against the plaintiff ... Janek Drevikovsky reports ... more
Jensen v Nationwide News Pty Ltd (No 5)
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
Helen Liu v The Age Company Limited & Ors
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
Protecting journalist sources
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
Antonio Madafferi v The Age & Ors
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
Draft Bill “will give police routine access to sources”
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
Helen Liu v The Age Company Ltd & Ors
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
Dr Edmund Bateman v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd
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
Helen Liu v The Age Company Ltd & Ors
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
James Dorsey v World Sports Group Pte Ltd
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