Claim

Claim 778

The court held that transmitting information to the media does not give a source special constitutional protection.

Published 2026-09-26. Last reviewed 2026-09-26. 1 source.

Statement: The court held that transmitting information to the media does not give a source special constitutional protection.
Field: effect_on_reporting
Value: No special protection for the press
About: incident 1985-us-morison-espionage-act-conviction
Source: United States v. Morison (4th Cir.) (1988)
Publisher: The First Amendment Encyclopedia, Middle Tennessee State University
Method: outlet report
Checked: 2026-09-26
Confidence: medium
Status: current
Source date: 2009

Quotation from the source

He cited Branzburg v. Hayes (1972) for the principle expressed there that journalists had no special protection simply because they were transmitting information to the media.