Court’s Opinion Downplays Importance of Balco News Story

By Mark Conrad*   The question of the existence of a reporter’s privilege protecting their confidential sources has been a recurring one for the federal courts over the last 30 years, despite the seeming rejection of such a right by the Supreme Court in Branzburg v. Hays 408 U.S. 665 (1972). Press advocates have attempted to dissect and limit the scope of Branzburg, in part because the split opinion required the inclusion of Justice Powell’s concurrence to carve out a working majority,