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TRIGGER WARNING: Can a student journalist who kept the name of a sexual assault surivior anonymous be forced to reveal the identity of the source if the school or the police ask them to?

Question | Privacy
Kids at our school host parties a lot, and at one of these parties a girl at my school was attacked and raped by another student. The girl approached a student journalist and wanted to publish a story about her attack while keeping her name anonymous. If the school newspaper publishes her story, could school authorities force the journalist to reveal the girl’s name? Could the police force the newspaper to reveal the girl’s name in order to press charges?
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The student reporter is likely protected from revealing their source under most state shield laws. Generally, shield laws protect reporters from giving up their sources, with some exceptions. These laws differ from state to state, so be sure to check the specific shield law for your state. 

For example, in Michigan, where this case occurred, the shield law protects journalists from revealing the names of the people who gave them information unless (1) revealing that person’s name would help solve an ongoing criminal proceeding, (2) the article in question is about a crime punishable by life in prison, and (3) there is no other way to get information on the crime in the story than by talking to that person. In this particular situation, the student journalist probably would not have to reveal the identity of the survivor to anyone because 1) there is no ongoing investigation; 2) rape is likely not punishable by life in prison; and 3) law enforcement and the school have alternative means of figuring out the rapist’s identity, such as by speaking to students who were also at the party. 


However, it is not completely clear whether shield laws apply to student journalists. These laws were created for adult journalists working for legitimate newspapers and not necessarily for student journalists. As long as a judge decides that your state shield laws also apply to student journalists, they will be protected from revealing the sources of their articles.


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The Student Press Law Center (SPLC), based in DC (trust us, they know what they are talking about) has indicated that most state shield laws “apply to anyone who regularly gathers and distributes news to the public, even unpaid students.” Under that definition, student journalists would clearly be protected under state shield laws. However, the SPLC has also indicated that some states exclude students from shield law protections. So, again, it’s important to look at your specific state’s laws to see if courts have said that student journalists in your region are protected by shield laws. Click here to read more from the SPLC on student shield laws.

If your state’s shield laws apply to student journalists, you are likely protected from being forced to reveal your sources to law enforcement. Shield laws incentivize journalists to report on controversial stories without fear of revealing where they might have gotten the information. Therefore, unless your situation meets the very few exceptions that require journalists to disclose their sources, you are protected. 

How do shield laws apply to school administrations?

The biggest issue that a student reporter may face when trying to keep her sources secret may be the school administration. This is because it is still unclear whether shield laws (assuming your state allows them to apply to student journalists) can prevent a school’s administration from forcing the student journalist to reveal the identity of an anonymous source. This issue, again, is going to entirely depend on the laws of your state. Sorry we do not have a more concrete answer, but this concept is still relatively new.

Even if a state’s shield laws do protect student journalists from revealing their sources to the school, the school may try to find other ways to figure out the identity of the victim. The school might say that they need the information in order to figure out who the rapist is to protect the general welfare of the school environment. For the school to succeed, a court would have to determine that the potential threat to the student body by not revealing the identity of the victim outweighs the privacy interests of the victim. In other words, a court will decide whether it is more important to protect the privacy of one student or to shed light on the important issue of rape and sexual assault in high schools. We’re not choosing sides one way or another, but we want to let you know the kinds of arguments that might come up. 

What if my state’s shield laws don’t apply to student journalists?

If shield laws in your state do not apply to student journalists, you may have another way to keep your sources confidential. If you make a promise to a person to keep their identity a secret, you may have created a contract. If you revealed the source, you would be breaking the contract.

There’s this thing called contract law, and it’s a pretty big deal. The whole idea behind it is that people should honor their promises (see below: beware of the power of the pinkie). But, seriously, say a student is promised confidentiality by a student reporter, but the reporter reveals the name and that student source is subsequently expelled. The source may be able to bring legal action for a breach of confidentiality. Essentially, had the reporter not disclosed the information, like they’d promised, then that student would not have been expelled. 

Is there any reason why I shouldn’t publish this story at all?

The last, but important thing to keep in mind is, as always, journalistic ethics. If the reporter has promised confidentiality, there is an ethical dilemma involved with the idea of giving over the rape victim’s name, and they should keep it confidential no matter what because of the sensitivity of this topic.

And with ethics, especially given this subject matter, various experts have commented on the relationship between handling rape cases and ethics. Those experts have indicated that because rape is treated by the media as a more personal, traumatic, and stigmatizing crime than other offenses, the ethics surrounding it need to be treated more carefully. So, as a general rule, when you’re reporting on something that is generally perceived as a pretty sensitive topic (things like rape or sexuality), you should be even more conscientious about the ethics surrounding your reporting. 

In this case, given the stigma placed around sexual assault survivors and that the survivor was adamant that her name not be used, journalistic ethics are pretty clear that consent to reveal her name was not given. Again, you have to consider the sensitivity of the topic at issue. We know there is a huge conversation surrounding rape culture and victim blaming. So, as it is, these facts seem to compel the reporter to keep the source anonymous. 

We can’t stress this enough, but as a journalist, you absolutely have to tread carefully with the ethics here, and with all sensitive topics, more so than on other issues like, say, the homecoming football game. In the end, your reporting will be better, and you’ll receive more respect as a journalist. If there is any reason that you believe you will be forced to reveal the name of the victim by any person for any reason whatsoever, really consider whether you want to publish this story. You should talk it over with the survivor a little more and see how she feels if there is any chance that her name could be given up. Your ultimate goal is to protect this person who is probably in a very vulnerable and sensitive state.



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