State's Attorney: Law Shielding Reporters Doesn't Protect Medill Students

Posted Wednesday, August 10, 2011 12:06 pm

By: J. Meisner | Chicago Tribune

More than 500 emails between beleaguered Northwestern University journalism professor David Protess and his students detailing their effort to free a man serving a life sentence should not be protected under state law that shields journalists from revealing unpublished work, Cook County prosecutors argued Tuesday.

In seeking the release of the communications, Assistant State's Attorney Celeste Stack said the student journalists investigating the alleged innocence of Anthony McKinney were essentially "generating evidence" at the behest of Northwestern's Center on Wrongful Convictions, not acting as working reporters.

"There was no business of collecting news for publication," Stack told Criminal Courts Judge Diane Cannon. "They collected evidence to present in court. … It's clear that the lawyers were running the show."

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State's Attorney: Law Shielding Reporters Doesn't Protect Medill Students

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