THE ISSUE: The owner of a Hawaii news Web site has been subpoenaed to name her confidential sources for recent articles.

A lawyer is challenging the right of Internet journalist Malia Zimmerman to protect the identities of her confidential sources, mistakenly calling her a blogger. Zimmerman clearly derives her livelihood from gathering the news and disseminating it on her Hawaiireporter.com Web site and deserves the same protection given to more traditional journalists.

William McCorriston represents landowner James Pflueger in a lawsuit against the state and companies regarding the failure of the Ka Loko Dam on Kauai. Zimmerman published several articles about the failed dam on her Web site and was a consultant for ABC’s news magazine “20/20″ in its report of the tragedy.

Thirty-one states have “shield laws” allowing reporters to protect their sources’ identities. Courts in Hawaii and 17 other states have recognized some form of reporters’ privilege. The state Supreme Court ruled in 1961 that protection of confidential sources should be balanced against other issues.

Circuit Judge Gary Chang ordered Zimmerman to submit to McCorriston’s questioning under oath. However, she can refuse to answer questions, and judges generally have ruled in civil cases that a reporter’s refusal to identify sources merely negates the source-attributed information as evidence.

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(Source: Honolulul Star-Bulletin)