The California Shield Law provides statutory and constitutional protections to journalists seeking to maintain the confidentiality of an unnamed source or unpublished information obtained during newsgathering.
[1] Section 1986.1 of the California Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) supplements these principal shield law provisions by providing additional safeguards to a reporter whose records are being subpoenaed.
[11] In its original iteration, the shield law protections only applied to newspaper publishers, editors, and reporters who refused to reveal their sources.
[16] On June 3, 1980, California voters approved the passage of Proposition 5, which incorporated the language of the existing shield law provision into the state constitution.
[19] According to Assembly member Migden, the intent of the bill was to clarify the existing statutory and constitutional safeguards guaranteed to journalists under the shield law.
[23] He also noted as a cautionary tale the 2013 scandal involving the United States Department of Justice secretly obtaining the records of the Associated Press without the organization's knowledge.