Globe ruling protects sources, allows use of leaked information
The Supreme Court of Canada has made it tough for lawyers, police and other investigators to “out” journalists’ sources. J-Source law editor Dean Jobb reports.
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Globe ruling sends strong message to protect sources
NewsThe Supreme Court of Canada has sent a strong message to judges, warning them that journalists should be ordered to identify confidential sources only in rare circumstances — especially the sources behind important public-interest stories. In an Oct. 22 ruling, the court overturned an order compelling Globe and Mail reporter Daniel Leblanc to answer questions,…
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Right to protect sources is part of free expression: top European court
The Dutch government is moving to reinforce the right of journalists to protect sources after a major ruling by the European Community’s top human-rights court. The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled that a Dutch law allowing a prosecutor to order journalists to divulge sources was in violation of…
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Blanket ban on Stafford case attacked as ‘absurd’
Canada’s leading newspapers and media law experts have condemned a sweeping publication ban imposed April 30 on a hearing in the Tori Stafford murder case. Justice Dougald McDermid of Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice prohibited the media from reporting what happened when Terri-Lynne McClintic, one of two people accused of the eight-year-old’s 2009 abduction and…
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Court unmasks anonymous media site posters
NEWS – In what may be the first case of its kind involving comments posted to a Canadian media website, the Halifax weekly The Coast has been ordered to identify seven people who made allegedly defamatory statements tagged to a story about racism in the city’s fire department. As well, Google was ordered to identify…
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Source protection: ‘Disappointing’ ruling has silver lining
CommentaryThe Supreme Court of Canada’s refusal to protect the National Post’s confidential source and grant constitutional protection to all journalists’ sources is “disappointing,” writes Toronto media lawyer Brian MacLeod Rogers. But the door is open to future privilege claims and the court has clearly recognized the importance of confidential sources to investigative journalism and the…
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The upside of the confidential sources ruling
Commentary Don’t let the negative headlines get you down – there’s good news for journalists in the the Supreme Court of Canada’s May 7 ruling in the case of the National Post, its former reporter Andrew McIntosh, and the possibly forged document at the heart of a nine-year legal battle to protect a source. Law…
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Ontario news website wins responsible journalism libel verdict
NewsThe new responsible journalism defence has helped an Ontario news website defeat a libel action launched by a man named in a police fraud alert. In one of the first applications of the defence (created by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2009), a jury ruled SooToday.com acted responsibly when it published the alert, even…
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Sparks Fly Over Squamish Fire Report
The Squamish Reporter, a local news website, says it was threatened with a lawsuit and asked to reveal the source of a leaked Fire Underwriters Survey after publishing a news story about the survey.
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Challenge seeks to stop police posing as reporters
On September 3, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), the CBC and RTNDA Canada, the Association of Electronic Journalists, launched a Charter of Rights and Freedoms application to stop the practice of police impersonating journalists.