Free Flow of Information Act

Summary

Free Flow of Information Act - Declares that a professional disseminator of information is privileged to decline to give evidence concerning the source or contents of information that he obtained the course of his professional activities if he states under oath either: (1) that the information in question could originally be obtained only by reaching an understanding with the source that the contents of the information or the identity of the source would not be disseminated to the public and would not be given in evidence in any official proceeding except under compulsion of law, or (2) that serious harm to a particular ongoing disseminator-source relationship is likely to result if the contents or source of the information is required to be disclosed. Provides that a claim of privilege under this Act shall be denied on appeal unless the appellate court independently determines on the basis of the trial record that the claimant is not entitled under the provisions of this Act to decline to give evidence. Provides that in all disputes concerning a claim of privilege under this Act, the claimant of the privileges has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that he qualifies as a professional disseminator of information to the public and that he obtained the evidence that is sought during the course of his professional activities.

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1 official file

• Introduced in House

  summary · EN · 27 March 1973

  Open at official source

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