Senate OKs bill to protect reporters

OLYMPIA – A year after letting an identical proposal die, the state Senate on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to ban state and local judges from trying to force news reporters to reveal a confidential source.

“We need to protect the flow of information into the press,” said Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, a lawyer and former newspaper reporter. It is to society’s benefit, he said, when government or corporate whistleblowers step forward to reveal abuses.

The so-called reporter shield law also would grant limited protections to reporters’ notes, unaired recordings and photographs. A judge could still require that those be disclosed, but only if they are critical to a court case and there’s no other practical way of getting the information.

Some lawmakers were clearly uncomfortable with granting news gatherers the same sort of privilege from being forced to testify that the law now grants to spouses, attorneys, doctors and clergy.

“Do you really believe that we should allow a reporter to hide behind a paper shield and say ‘I’m sorry, I don’t have to tell anybody … where I got the information’?” said Sen. Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood. “If that person is the only way we can find the truth, shouldn’t that be revealed?” He added that a reporter could be lying and not even have a source. Senate Bill 5358 passed, 41-7. It now goes to the House of Representatives.