• Parties involved: Blogger Thaddeus Matthews, the Shelby County District Attorney
  • Source of conflict: Matthews leaked information on his blog related to a criminal investigation in progress
  • Timeline: Incident took place February 2008
  • Court’s decision: No court action taken, subpoena considered.
  • Impact on blogosphere: This was the first time a blog press freedom case happened in Tennessee that would test its shield law. The case showed that even when bloggers are considered journalists, there are certain situations that nullify their freedom to confidential sources.

Thaddeus Matthews is a Tennessee-based blogger who reports on and discussed social and political issues. In February 2008, he posted a draft statement from a man being tried in a murder case and argued that the man may have been framed. The news site Commercial Appeal reports on this case and explains the police and local government’s reaction to the posting of a police document:

Two days after Matthews posted the document, Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons launched an investigation to determine who inside the cop shop released the statement. Those responsible, Gibbons said, may have violated Tennessee’s law prohibiting misuse of official information, a misdemeanor.

Under [TN’s shield] law, a judge may choose to strip a reporter’s shield if the journalist has information about a crime that “cannot reasonably be obtained by alternative means” when there is “a compelling and overriding public interest.”

In this case, the courts are considering Matthews to be a journalist, but they are doing so in order to argue for the right to subpoena him, not against.