Off the Record

Every energetic newshawk has pipelines of information which flow only so long as they remain hidden. A brave newshawk would sooner go to jail--and sometimes he does--than violate journalism's law: Never expose your pipelines. Last week the Governor of New Jersey signed a bill giving the Press the same right of protecting confidences that is enjoyed by the medical and legal professions. It provides that the newsman need not make known to any county grand jury, legislative committee or other investigating body the source of information obtained by him and published in his paper. A similar law exists in Maryland. In 1929 Senator Arthur Capper proposed a like measure to Congress, after three Hearst reporters went to jail for refusing to tell a grand jury the addresses of speakeasies described in a Washington Times survey. No Federal law materialized.

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