Knight-Ridder Broadcasting, Inc. v. Greenberg

By enactment of a strong Shield Law (Civil Rights Law § 79-h) protecting sources and materials gathered from news sources, New York became the first State to broadly enhance the root freedom of the press right, itself traceable to the free press provision of the New York Constitution (art I, § 8). New York should not, through its judiciary, encumber the plain legislative policy choices made in the governing statute’s own words. Since the majority’s holding does that, I dissent.

*161The District Attorney’s effort to penetrate that shield by subpoena to acquire outtakes of a televised news item…