What began as a mistaken identification in a college town shooting case has become a test of how far Alabama law protects anonymous sources and how modern journalism fits into statutes written for another era.
After The New York Times wrongfully identified a student-athlete as being present at the scene of a 2023 murder in Tuscaloosa, former Alabama basketball player Kai Spears filed a defamation lawsuit against the media conglomerate in federal court, claiming the reporting was false, inadequately verified and presented as fact despite contrary information.
Spears sought information about the confidential sources underlying the article that mistakenly identified him as a passenger in a car connected to the shooting. The Times refused to provide that information, invoking Alabama’s reporter shield statute.
That dispute put the federal judge in a bind.
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