Prosecutors: Medill prof’s emails to students shouldn’t be protected under shield law

Chicago Tribune | Chicago Sun-Times
Cook County prosecutors contended at hearing on Tuesday that students from the Medill Innocence Project weren’t working as reporters during their five-year quest to prove Anthony McKinney innocent of murder but as agents for attorneys at the university law school’s Center on Wrongful Convictions. “It is not reporting,” an assistant state’s attorney said, arguing why the roughly 500 e-mails between students and former Innocence Project head David Protess should be turned over to prosecutors. Medill lawyers argued that the Illinois law shielding reporters is broad and covers not only mainstream news media but also “advocacy journalism” that crusades for a cause or takes a certain point of view. || Earlier coverage. || Protess/Medill Innocence Project timeline.