Sinnott v. Boston Retirement Board

This is an appeal from a judgment of civil contempt entered in the Superior Court, pursuant to an order of a single justice of the Appeals Court, 1 against a deponent, Charles A. Radin, a newspaper reporter, for refusing to comply with an order that he answer questions aimed at discovering the identities of confidential sources. We transferred the case to this court on our own motion and now reverse.

On April 5, 1982, Globe Newspaper Company published an article, authored by Radin, concerning, inter alla, the application by Richard J. Sinnott (Sinnott), a recently fired chief of the licensing…