#5 - Reporter's Privilege

The field of Journalism can be unpopular, mainly because part of the job is sometimes having to talk about parts of society that might anger some. The backlash can come from the public and can result in something as meaningless as a few bad words among the angered to in the worst case some form of retribution against them. Now while threats from the average person might be a problem, the real and more likely threat comes from more powerful forces who will attempt to discredit the journalist in any way the can.

Journalist are not left defenseless when it comes to their work as Shield Laws allow for a journalist to defend themselves by invoking Reporters Privilege. Reporter Privilege ensures that a journalist can refuse to reveal the source of information whether they be documents or a person. 

Jamie Kalven

In 2014 journalist Jamie Kalven reported the death of Laquan McDonald, the seventeen year black teen who was shot sixteen times by police. This story coming to light would eventually lead to mass protests in the city of Chicago calling for justice to be served and after the police dash-cam footage was released officer Jason Van Dyke was eventually charged with first degree murder. 

However, Kalven's involvement did not end after he reported the story as he subpoenaed during the pretrial period of the Van Dyke case. This was done in an effort by Van Dyke's attorney to paint Kalven as a "slanted journalist" with a disdain for law enforcement as Kalven had reported on corruption in 2005 and alleging that Kalven had used internal police testimony that is protected by federal law in order to get other witnesses testimony. This was a failed attempt by Van Dyke's lawyer to make the judge press Kalven in order to give up his source, something that Kalven said he would do under no circumstances. 

Link to article on Jamie Kalven. 

Link to interview with Jamie Kalven.