subpoena

The New York Court of Appeals ruled today that Fox News reporter Jana Winter is protected by that state's media shield law from identifying her anonymous law enforcement sources in reponse to a Colorado defendant's subpoena, Politico reports. New York's highest court was sharply divided in a 4-3 decision.

Winter had an exclusive about a notebook belonging to James Holmes, who is charged with the mass killing at the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

The majority said a ruling against Winter would violate New York's strong public policy favoring the protection of journalists, which made New York "'the media capital of the country, if not the world,"' Politico reports. The dissent said Colorado laws should apply.

A Virginia carpet cleaner allowed a rug cleaner to subpoena Yelp about the identities of negative reviewers of its business, The Raw Story reports. The carpet cleaner argues its business rival made the reviews. Yelp was found in contempt of court for not complying, and the Virginia Court of Appeals heard oral argument in the case this week. Advocacy group Public Citizen explains, according to The Raw Story, '“courts elsewhere have recognized that before stripping the defendant of a First Amendment right, they should take an early look at the case to confirm that the speaker’s statement appears to be false and defamatory, such that the company’s claim is viable. In this appeal, where the users’ original claims about [carpet cleaner] Hadeed’s practices are echoed by dozens of other users whose reviews have not been challenged as defamatory, Yelp urges Virginia to adopt that approach.”'