Court says financial newsletter entitled to news media privilege.Tim Mulligan mul·li·gan n. A golf shot not tallied against the score, granted in informal play after a poor shot especially from the tee. [Probably from the name Mulligan.] Noun 1. , publisher of The Eyeshade Report, a newsletter that reports on publicly traded companies publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. , wrote an article that was very critical of Matrixx Initiatives Inc. "I derived most of the information from Matrixx's Securities and Exchange Commission report, but there were some private sources," Mulligan said. Matrixx alleges that the article contained false statements about their nasal nasal /na·sal/ (na´zil) pertaining to the nose. na·sal adj. Of, in, or relating to the nose. nasal pertaining to the nose. products and it demanded the subscriber lists of the newsletter to identify possible sources of the article. Mulligan said that compelling disclosure of subscriber lists creates special problems for industry-specific reporters because their subscribers and news sources may be the same people. In January 2005 a Maryland circuit court judge refused Mulligan's request to squash the subpoena subpoena (səpē`nə) [Lat.,=under penalty], in law, an order to a witness to appear before a court. A subpoena ad testificandum [Lat. . Following his appeal, last month a panel of Maryland appellate Relating to appeals; reviews by superior courts of decisions of inferior courts or administrative agencies and other proceedings. judges ruled that Mulligan qualifies for protection under the state's news media privilege act. Still, the appeals court in Annapolis upheld the subpoena but noted that Mulligan would not have to answer questions covered by the media privilege. |
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