Judge rules Starbucks can get messages between union group and reporters

A federal judge has ordered the organization behind a unionization drive at Starbucks stores in western New York to turn over all of its messages with journalists, reports Paul Farhi of The Washington Post.

Farhi writes, “The order would likely affect thousands of messages between organizers and a large swath of news organizations that have covered the Buffalo story. Among others, The Washington Post, the New York Times, Vice, Fox News, Al Jazeera, the Guardian and the Buffalo News have reported extensively on the organizing campaign…

“In rare cases, courts have ordered news reporters to reveal the source of sensitive stories, especially those involving classified material or national security. But it’s unusual for a judge to order a party in a civil case to hand over such a broad record of contacts with journalists.

“New York has a ‘shield law’ that protects professional journalists from disclosing confidential sources. But the law doesn’t address the situation presented in the Buffalo case, in which the sources themselves are being asked to turn over material shared with reporters.”

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