Journalists have the right not to disclose the identity of their sources.
The right not to reveal journalistic sources
The protection of journalistic sources is one of the key rights that journalists have in order to exercise their freedom of expression and to fulfil their function as a ‘’public watchdog”.
Without such protection, journalists’ sources may refrain from helping them to fulfil their function. Journalists have this right regardless of whether their sources obtained the information legally or illegally.
The right not to reveal their sources protects journalists not only from specific orders to reveal the name of the source, but also from actions by the police or some other public authority which could lead to the identification of the source.
example The police cannot order a journalist to provide documents containing a lead to the identification of the source, listen in on a journalist’s phone conversations or search his/her house and data storage devices.
However, the secrecy of journalistic sources is not absolute and can be restricted in exceptional circumstances:
Restrictions
A journalist may be required to reveal his/her sources only in exceptional circumstances, if it is needed to protect a vital interest.
example The need to identify the person (source) who leaked a company’s confidential corporate plan or information in a highly sensitive criminal case, would not automatically be considered to be in the overriding public interest, justifying the disclosure of journalistic sources.
Any interference with the secrecy of a journalist’s sources must be treated with utmost caution. There should be adequate legal safeguards to prevent the authorities from abusing such exceptions. It is prohibited to disclose confidential information without the owner’s consent or without the court’s decision. According to the Criminal Procedure Code of Georgia Journalists are not obliged to be a witness on the information received during the professional activities.
How to complain
If you think that the information was unlawfully disclosed you can submit a file to the court according to the Civil Procedure Code of Georgia and require compensation for property and non-property (moral) damage.