All Incidents - U.S. Press Freedom Tracker

New Yorker staff writer subpoenaed for testimony in civil rights lawsuit

November 8, 2019

In June, attorneys representing the city of Chicago subpoenaed New Yorker staff writer Nicholas Schmidle to testify about his sources …

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BuzzFeed receives first subpoena in ongoing Unsworth-Musk defamation lawsuit

October 1, 2019

BuzzFeed News was issued its first subpoena in the unfolding case between caver Vernon Unsworth and Tesla CEO Elon Musk …

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New York County Supreme Court judge quashes subpoena for HBO documentary outtakes

June 7, 2019

New York County Supreme Court Judge Carol Edmead quashed a subpoena for outtakes from the HBO documentary “Rock and a …

Student journalist subpoenaed for documents and reporting materials as part of dispute between university, foundation

June 11, 2019

Student journalist Euirim Choi was served a subpoena on May 22, 2019, in connection with a lawsuit between The Thomas …

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Student newspaper subpoenaed for documents and reporting materials as part of $100 million dispute

June 11, 2019

The Chicago Maroon, the University of Chicago’s student newspaper, was served a subpoena on May 17, 2019, in connection with …

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Pennsylvania judge denies energy company’s subpoena of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette staff

June 6, 2019

A Pennsylvania judge denied a request by Range Resources Appalachia LLC on May 3, 2019, to subpoena and depose two …

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Harvard Crimson reporter subpoenaed for reporting materials, testimony in defamation suit

June 21, 2019

A reporter and multimedia editor for The Harvard Crimson, the university’s daily paper, was issued a subpoena on April 10, …

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Nevada judge orders online journalist to reveal sources, says not protected by shield law

March 23, 2019

A Nevada state court judge issued an order on March 4 to compel an online journalist to reveal his confidential …

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Category Results

Total Results	54
Journalists affected	52
Results in 2019	22

How we track Subpoenas And Legal Orders

Subpoenas or legal orders requiring journalists to testify in court or produce journalistic records or work product. This category also includes orders targeted at third parties who have access to journalistic records or work product. Because many subpoenas are not publicly reported and legal orders for journalist records are conducted with high levels of secrecy, the numbers in this category are likely to underestimate actual cases.