Identifier

etd-04122013-170418

Degree

Master of Mass Communication (MMC)

Department

Mass Communication

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

In 1972, Branzburg v. Hayes required the Supreme Court to consider whether the First Amendment to the United States Constitution conferred on journalists a right to quash grand jury subpoenas issued by the government. The Court held in a five-to-four opinion that it did not. Yet, in 2011, a federal district judge found that James Risen, a New York Times reporter, had a First Amendment reporter’s privilege that protected him from having to reveal his source for a book chapter about a secretive CIA operation. This judge is not alone in finding such a privilege in spite of Branzburg; indeed, many judges have come to the same conclusion. This thesis, through an analysis of post-Branzburg cases at the federal courts of appeals level, attempts to map the current landscape. It finds that Branzburg jurisprudence is in tatters, with some courts of appeals finding a reporter’s privilege and others not. It further finds that the courts that do find a privilege fail to weigh the First Amendment interests in each case, opting instead for sweeping but vacuous pronouncements of the benefits of the First Amendment. Taking this landscape under consideration, this thesis suggests that Branzburg is the problem – not the solution and offers a way for courts to escape from under Branzburg’s thumb by recognizing that subsequent case law has implicitly dismissed the presumption on which Branzburg is based. It further extrapolates from this subsequent case law the principle that the First Amendment is implicated when the government or a private party acts adversely to a speaker because of his speech. Having recognized that the First Amendment is implicated by subpoenas against journalists, it then argues that the only way to account for all of the interests involved is to identify and appraise the value of the First Amendment interests in light of First Amendment theory and weigh those interests against the countervailing interests. Finally, it suggests how this approach informs the Risen case.

Date

2013

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Coyle, Erin

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.4226

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