---
title: "List the role and what a source request seeks"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/practice/defamation-and-media-law/assess-a-journalist-s-claim-to-protect-the-identity-of-a-source/united-states"
type: "task_jurisdiction_version"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "A33-F20261018-4-US"
practice_area: "Defamation & Media Law"
tier: "yellow"
lawyer_review: "required"
jurisdictions: ["US"]
last_reviewed: "2026-10-22"
---

# List the role and what a source request seeks

> List the role the file describes only when it is a newspaper, magazine, other periodical, press association, wire service, radio, or television. If none of those words fit, leave the role blank.…

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/practice/defamation-and-media-law/assess-a-journalist-s-claim-to-protect-the-identity-of-a-source/united-states  
Last reviewed: 2026-10-22

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Practice area | [Defamation & Media Law](https://ailawframework.com/practice/defamation-and-media-law.md) |
| Human involvement | Yellow: Lawyer and AI draft together |
| How AI is used | List the role the file describes only when it is a newspaper, magazine, other periodical, press association, wire service, radio, or television. If none of those words fit, leave the role blank. List whether the request seeks a source or unpublished information. State no contempt result. |
| What the lawyer must review | You decide whether the person can be adjudged in contempt. Evidence Code § 1070(a) provides that a publisher, editor, reporter, or other person connected with or employed upon a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, or by a press association or wire service, or any person who has been so connected or employed, cannot be adjudged in contempt by a judicial, legislative, or administrative body, or any other body having the power to issue subpoenas, in a proceeding as defined in § 901, for refusing to disclose the source of information procured while so connected or employed for publication in a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, or for refusing to disclose unpublished information obtained or prepared in gathering, receiving, or processing information for communication to the public. Section 1070(b) states the same contempt shield for a radio or television news reporter or other person connected with or employed by a radio or television station, for the source procured for news or news commentary purposes on radio or television, and for unpublished information. Section 1070(c) defines unpublished information to include information not disseminated to the public by the person from whom disclosure is sought, whether or not related information has been disseminated, and to include notes, outtakes, photographs, tapes, or other data of whatever sort not itself disseminated to the public through a medium of communication. Section 901 was not opened. The words that were read do not name a blogger or a podcaster. This is a contempt shield. Do not invent a privilege label for it. Opinion 512 does not let the tool make the judgment. |
| Written for | United States |
| Applies to | [Assess a journalist’s claim to protect the identity of a source](https://ailawframework.com/practice/defamation-and-media-law/assess-a-journalist-s-claim-to-protect-the-identity-of-a-source.md) |

## Checking plan

- What the AI does: List the role the file describes only when it is a newspaper, magazine, other periodical, press association, wire service, radio, or television. If none of those words fit, leave the role blank. List whether the request seeks a source or unpublished information. State no contempt result.
- Basis: Checked against the linked sources on 22 October 2026. Confirm the current instrument before reliance.

## Notes

- Section 1070 is California. It is not a federal rule, and another state protects a source under a different statute.
- Open § 901 before you decide what proceeding the shield covers. Leave the role blank when the file does not describe one of the roles the section names.

## Sources

- [California Evidence Code § 1070 (news source and unpublished information)](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=EVID&sectionNum=1070) (checked 2026-10-22)
- [ABA Formal Opinion 512, Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools (29 July 2024)](https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/professional_responsibility/ethics-opinions/aba-formal-opinion-512.pdf) (checked 2026-10-22)

## Forms and precedents for this task

| Form or precedent | Kind | AI level | Summary |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Journalist and informant identity record](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/defamation-and-media-law/journalist-informant-identity-record.md) | Checklist | 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.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*