How do courts determine whether the constitutional reporters privilege applies?
Courts use a test to determine whether someone invoking the reporter’s privilege has the right to do it. A test used by many federal courts is whether that person intended to disseminate information to the public, and whether that intent existed at the inception of the newsgathering process (where “newsgathering process” can mean seeking, collecting, or receiving information from a source). Under this test, courts have provided the privilege to non-traditional journalists, including book authors and documentary filmmakers.
