---
title: "Journalist and informant identity record"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/defamation-and-media-law/journalist-informant-identity-record"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a33-journalist-informant-identity-record"
area_id: "A33"
kind: "checklist"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
task_ids: ["A33-F20261018-4"]
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-22"
---

# Journalist and informant identity record

> 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.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/defamation-and-media-law/journalist-informant-identity-record  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-22

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

## Key facts

- Kind: Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Practice area: [Defamation & Media Law](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/defamation-and-media-law.md)
- Jurisdictions: Commonwealth
- AI level: Yellow. You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-22
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-22 against the 2 authorities it cites, for Commonwealth.

## When to use it

Use when assessing a journalist's claim to protect a source's identity in a proceeding to which the Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) applies. It records the promise and the facts. It does not decide the claim.

## Used for these tasks

- [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)

## How AI may be used

AI may record the promise and the facts the principal supplies against the definitions in section 126J, and must not decide whether the person is a journalist or whether the public interest outweighs.

**AI may:**

- Enter the names the principal supplies for the person said to be a journalist and the person said to be an informant
- Record the words of the promise from a document the principal marks
- List the proceeding and the question or document that would disclose the identity

**AI must not:**

- Must not decide that a person is a journalist or an informant
- Must not decide that a promise was made, or that subsection 126K(1) applies
- Must not decide that the public interest in disclosure outweighs the matters in subsection 126K(2)
- Must not draft an affidavit or a refusal-to-answer script

**The lawyer checks:**

- The proceeding is one to which the Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) applies
- State evidence legislation was not opened and is not used in this record
- The principal decides whether to make, or to resist, an application under subsection 126K(2)
- No answer about identity is given from this record

## Authorities

- [Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) s 126J](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ea199580/s126j.html)
- [Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) s 126K](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ea199580/s126k.html)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/defamation-and-media-law/journalist-informant-identity-record and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

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