Assess a journalist’s claim to protect the identity of a source
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- From the subpoena, notice to produce or question, and the journalist’s notes of the promise made, set out the facts relevant to the privilege (who the informant is in role only, when and how the promise was made, what material would identify them) and the matters the court weighs if a party seeks an order to override the privilege, with references to the documents.
- What the lawyer must review
- The lawyer decides whether the privilege applies, advises the journalist and the media organisation, prepares any objection or response to an application, and makes sure the tool never receives the informant’s identity or anything from which it could be deduced.
- Written for / version
- US
Open a jurisdiction version of this task to see which instruments apply: US
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | Do not begin AI assistance until the responsible lawyer has defined and confirmed its permitted scope. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- Confirm the input to the tool identifies the informant by role only and contains nothing from which their identity could be deduced.
- Check the facts of the promise against the journalist’s own notes.
- Confirm which Evidence Act and forum apply before advising.
Forms and precedents for this task
| Form or precedent | Kind | AI use | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Journalist and informant identity record | Checklist | AI use Yellow | A working record of a promise not to disclose an informant's identity, using the definitions and the compellability rule in the Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) sections 126J and 126K. |
Signed-in accounts can read the full text of each one. All precedents.
Sources
- Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) s 126K (journalist privilege relating to identity of informant) · 2026-10-18
These are suggested working checks. Confirm the required checking with the responsible lawyer before work starts; the checking approach does not establish permission to use AI.