5-Reporter’s Privilege

First and foremost let me explain exactly what Reporter privilege is in the United States. Personally, I had no idea what this was before looking it up but reporter's privilege is a reporter's protection under the constitutional or statutory law from being compelled to testify about confidential information or sources. From what I've researched so far the court or a judge may ask and even intimidate a reporter/journalist into handing over there sources. Legally though a reporter truly doesn't have to hand over their sources to a court.

Back in October Buzzfeed invoked reporter's privilege to shield the infamous Trump Dossier source (Original Story). Buzzfeed had a report prepared by a former British spy Christopher Steele that detailed basically every scandal Trump was involved in (Trump Dossier). From his supposed affairs with prostitutes to coordinating with the Russians over hacking his Democrat opponents. As a result, Buzzfeed is now facing a defamation lawsuit from a Russian tech entrepreneur Aleksej Gurbarev. Christopher Steele had a history of investigating Trump's ties to Russia as he was hired in 2016 by Fusion GPS for that exact reason (Article on Christopher Steele). Naturally, the plaintiff's attorney asked Fusion GPS's counsel if Fusion was indeed BuzzFeed's source.(What to know about Fusion GPS Russia investigation)

Naturally, the answer was no and at the time Gurbarev was busy trying to pry the source from Ben Smith. Buzzfeed had this to say regarding it's timely invoking of reporter's privilege, "Plaintiffs demand that this Court order Defendants to violate a promise of confidentiality to a source, an act that for any journalist would constitute the ultimate breach of his or her professional ethics and sense of duty. Yet Plaintiffs have made this extraordinary demand by invoking what are essentially phantom claims about their purported need for this information, and without having made even the slightest effort to explore any alternatives. Under any version of the reporter’s privilege to protect confidential sources, the balance here decidedly tips in Defendants’ favor."