The First Amendment Handbook provides a basic primer on the laws affecting reporters’ rights to gather and disseminate news.
Seventh Edition
Lucy A. Dalglish, Executive Director
Gregg P. Leslie, Editor
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Funding for this publication provided by: Gannett Foundation and The Scheide Fund.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. — The First Amendment
Introduction
On a Sunday afternoon in March 1970, a group of journalists and media lawyers, concerned over FBI attempts to find the sources for journalists’ reports on radical groups, gathered at Georgetown University to create an organization that would be available around the clock to provide legal assistance to any working reporter, anywhere in the United States, without charge.
Since that founding meeting, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has been just what its name implies — an organization dedicated first to the interests of the reporter. From the start, the medium of communication and the means of employment have not mattered. The committee has helped all those who take it as their mission to inform the public about current events.
For more than 50 years, the Reporters Committee has carried out that vision, giving legal advice to thousands of journalists and producing publications to help them do their jobs.
The First Amendment Handbook is one of those publications. First produced in 1986, and updated regularly since then, this booklet is designed to provide a basic primer on the laws affecting reporters’ rights to gather and disseminate news.
At a time when newsgathering techniques are under increasing scrutiny, courts order journalists to jail for refusing to disclose confidential sources, government officials are finding new ways to close down access to public information in the name of national security, and big business tries to intimidate news organizations by filing lawsuits based on novel tort theories ranging from fraud to breach of duty of loyalty, American journalists need to be aware of the many potential pitfalls that await them, and of how they might avoid them. They need to know their rights, and how to fight back when they are threatened. The First Amendment Handbook is an important weapon in that fight.
