Supreme Court allows journalists’ appeal
Posted by Eoin in Freedom of Expression, Irish Law, tags: Journalists' sources
The Supreme Court has held that two Irish Times journalists can assert a privilege to refuse to answer questions about their sources, reversing the High Court decision in Mahon v Keena [2007] IEHC 348 (23 October 2007). From the Irish Times breaking news website:
Court upholds Mahon appeal
The Supreme Court has upheld an appeal by Irish Times editor Geraldine Kennedy and public affairs correspondent Colm Keena against a court order requiring them to answer questions from the Mahon tribunal about the source of an article about former taoiseach Bertie Ahern. …
Revised: The decision is also noted by Cian on Blurred Keys and is now avaialble as Mahon Tribunal v Keena [2009] IESC 64 (31 July 2009); it is also here (pdf) on the Irish Times website.
See also the Belfast decision in the case of Suzanne Breen and a decision of the Supreme Court of Western Australia earlier this week, both reaching similar conclusions.
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The decision should be available on the Courts Service judgments website … soon
Hah! Liar, liar, your pants are on fire.
Well, yesterday’s Supreme Court decision in Pierce t/a Swords Memorial -v- The Dublin Cemeteries Committee & ors is there, so I’m hoping that today’s will be up soon too!
Update: Well, it’s now there, and I’ve revised the post accordingly.
[...] « Supreme Court allows journalists’ appeal Effective Supreme Court advocacy? » Aug 02 2009 [...]
[...] Supreme Court, although allowing the appeal, nevertheless also deplored the journalists’ destruction of the document. In Mahon [...]