My Debut in Communication Law and Policy

While I was in Asia, a leading peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of communications law -- Communication Law and Policy -- published my article examining whether academics can assert an "academic privilege" akin to the "reporters privilege" that journalists often assert to avoid revealing information from confidential sources.

The article examines all of the cases -- there are surprisingly few -- in which courts have definitively ruled on the issue. The bottom line is that while courts usually do not recognize any such privilege as a matter of law, they often limit what has to be disclosed in recognition of academics' legitimate interest in confidentiality for their subjects and informants.

Of course the article goes into much more detail, explaining the circumstances of each case, and the courts' rulings and legal rationales. And it also offers some guidelines and considerations that academics should keep in mind as they begin their research in order to avoid -- or a least limit -- such legal dilemmas.

Communication Law and Policy is the journal of the Law and Policy division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), of which I have been an active member for several years now. I would like to thank the journal's editor, W. Wat Hopkins, for his encouragement and assistance throughout the publication process.

I hope that this will just be the first of several articles that I will publish in Communication Law and Policy in the future.