Judge upholds protection of Glasgow Daily Times reporter’s notes, tape

By ruling that the Glasgow Daily Times did not have to turn over a reporter’s notes and interview tape to a prosecutor, Barren County Circuit Judge Phil Patton upheld both the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and a Kentucky law regarding reporters privilege.

Barren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Karen Davis subpoenaed the newspaper for reporter Tara Hettinger’s notes and tape recording of an interview with David Bell, an Edmonton man charged with 30 counts of theft. Whether Bell said anything during that interview that may help or harm the prosecution’s case against him is not the point.

By seeking the notes and recording, Davis essentially was asking the newspaper and its employee to do her job for her. Bell granted the interview for the newspaper, not the prosecutor.

If he had known in advance that everything he said could be turned over to the prosecutor it is doubtful he would have granted the interview. The freedom of the press granted by the First Aaendment gives newspapers, television and radio stations and other media the right to seek their own sources of information for stories without interference by the government, including the courts.

Kentucky law protects that right by granting reporters the of not turning over their notes.

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