(1) As used in this section, unless the
context otherwise requires:
(a) Mass medium means any publisher of a newspaper or periodical; wire
service; radio or television station or network; news or feature syndicate; or cable
television system.
(b) News information means any knowledge, observation, notes,
documents, photographs, films, recordings, videotapes, audiotapes, and reports,
and the contents and sources thereof, obtained by a newsperson while engaged as
such, regardless of whether such items have been provided to or obtained by such
newsperson in confidence.
(c) Newsperson means any member of the mass media and any employee
or independent contractor of a member of the mass media who is engaged to
gather, receive, observe, process, prepare, write, or edit news information for
dissemination to the public through the mass media.
(d) Press conference means any meeting or event called for the purpose of
issuing a public statement to members of the mass media, and to which members of
the mass media are invited in advance.
(e) Proceeding means any civil or criminal investigation, discovery
procedure, hearing, trial, or other process for obtaining information conducted by,
before, or under the authority of any judicial body of the state of Colorado. Such
term shall not include any investigation, hearing, or other process for obtaining
information conducted by, before, or under the authority of the general assembly.
(f) Source means any person from whom or any means by or through which
news information is received or procured by a newsperson, while engaged as such,
regardless of whether such newsperson was requested to hold confidential the
identity of such person or means.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary and except as
provided in subsection (3) of this section, no newsperson shall, without such
newsperson's express consent, be compelled to disclose, be examined concerning
refusal to disclose, be subjected to any legal presumption of any kind, or be cited,
held in contempt, punished, or subjected to any sanction in any judicial proceedings
for refusal to disclose any news information received, observed, procured,
processed, prepared, written, or edited by a newsperson, while acting in the
capacity of a newsperson; except that the privilege of nondisclosure shall not apply
to the following:
(a) News information received at a press conference;
(b) News information which has actually been published or broadcast
through a medium of mass communication;
(c) News information based on a newsperson's personal observation of the
commission of a crime if substantially similar news information cannot reasonably
be obtained by any other means;
(d) News information based on a newsperson's personal observation of the
commission of a class 1, 2, or 3 felony.
(3) Notwithstanding the privilege of nondisclosure granted in subsection (2)
of this section, any party to a proceeding who is otherwise authorized by law to
issue or obtain subpoenas may subpoena a newsperson in order to obtain news
information by establishing by a preponderance of the evidence, in opposition to a
newsperson's motion to quash such subpoena:
(a) That the news information is directly relevant to a substantial issue
involved in the proceeding;
(b) That the news information cannot be obtained by any other reasonable
means; and
(c) That a strong interest of the party seeking to subpoena the newsperson
outweighs the interests under the first amendment to the United States
constitution of such newsperson in not responding to a subpoena and of the general
public in receiving news information.
(4) The privilege of nondisclosure established by subsection (2) of this
section may be waived only by the voluntary testimony or disclosure of a
newsperson that directly addresses the news information or identifies the source of
such news information sought. A publication or broadcast of a news report through
the mass media concerning the subject area of the news information sought, but
which does not directly address the specific news information sought, shall not be
deemed a waiver of the privilege of nondisclosure as to such specific news
information.
(5) In any trial to a jury in an action in which a newsperson is a party as a
result of such person's activities as a newsperson and in which the newsperson has
invoked the privilege created by subsection (2) of this section, the jury shall be
neither informed nor allowed to learn that such newsperson invoked such privilege
or has thereby declined to disclose any news information.
(6) Nothing in this section shall preclude the issuance of a search warrant in
compliance with the federal Privacy Protection Act of 1980, 42 U.S.C. sec.
2000aa.