News organizations across the state are concerned about a recent state Supreme Court decision that they believe weakens laws protecting the media.
If the ruling stands, they fear it would make it much more difficult to cover the government.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Dan Gorenstein reports.
The state Supreme Court case involves Terry Thomas and the Nashua Telegraph.
Thomas is suing the paper for libel.
According to court records, Thomas is serving a 3 ½-7 year sentence for receiving stolen property.
That conviction notwithstanding, Thomas charges a December 1999 article titled 'Police say burglar's luck has run out after 25 years' contains fifty-eight statements that are defamatory.
Statements like "He has been shot at, caught, released, confronted, questioned, suspected and arrested most of his adult life."
The lawyer representing the Telegraph, Rich Gagliuso says the reporter obtained essentially all of his information from interviews with police or police records.
TAPE: we believe that the article on which the case is based is true. We believe there are privileges that protect the Telegraph from liability from what they did and a number of other defenses.
The privilege Gagliuso is talking is about is something called the Fair Report Privilege.
The Privilege says that as long as a reporter accurately covers the gist of a public proceeding or a public record he or she is protected from libel suits.
The Telegraph argues that any information from police records qualifies for protection under the Fair Report Privilege.
The state Supreme Court disagrees.
The court specifically cites a sentence as an example of what is not protected.
Reading from the original Telegraph report...."Police also found Boston Celtics tickets, jewelry, televisions, VCR's, coins and perfume believed to have been stolen."
TAPE: historically reporters have been able to report 'this is what is contained in the report.' And they have been protected by the fair report privilege.
Attorney Greg Sullivan represents a number of media outfits in the state, including the Union Leader.
TAPE: ....Based upon this decision. We have to take another look at that. Wait a minute, before we publish we either have to go out and do some more investigation or we don't publish. And that's what is called a chilling effect. It really limits the amount of information that is coming to the public.
Sullivan says he doesn't believe news organizations should be obligated to go above and beyond the investigations of the officials they cover.
But University of Richmond Law School Dean Rod Smolla says The Fair Report Privilege can be taken too far.
In its strongest form it pretty much guarantees a journalist absolute immunity.
Smolla says given the speed of modern communication it's especially important to not give reporters carte blanche to be an uncritical conduit.
TAPE: the danger in giving free pass to reporter when one is dealing with raw data is that you can cause enormous damage to a person's reputation and to their human dignity by merely repeating material that turns out to be flawed.
For Smolla, reporters must make a critical distinction between raw data and material that has been fully vetted.
He says a preliminary police report is not the same as official testimony given under oath.
But Lucy Dalglish with the Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press says that distinction could lead to government abuse.
She asks if an agency never approves a report, is the news organization at risk if it uses that report in a story.
TAPE:somebody wants a zoning variance and you go out and investigate and your city assistant sanitation engineer comes back and says I think these people are dumping bad chemicals into the ground, and he writes a report. And puts it into a file, but it does not get submitted as part of an official city council document in the agenda. Does that mean it is not protected under the privilege? That's ridiculous.
Dalglish says these types of cases are rare.
The Nashua Telegraph has until May 11th to decided whether to ask the Supreme Court to reverse its decision.
For NHPR News, I'm DG.
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