A Pennsylvania judge granted a motion on Sept. 14, 2023, to compel journalist Mike Elk to disclose his correspondence with former sources, according to court documents reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
The motion by the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America and union officials Jon Schleuss, Fatima Hussein and Steve Cook, was made as part of Elk’s defamation suit against the NewsGuild, the Pittsburgh NewsGuild and four individual defendants.
Elk subsequently objected to the NewsGuild’s requests on Oct. 16, so a ruling by the judge now awaits, Poynter reported.
Elk, senior labor reporter and founder of the news site Payday Report, had sued the NewsGuild, the country’s largest journalists’ union, and other defendants in June 2021. He made claims against the NewsGuild for defamation, breach of contract, fraud and assault, alleging that the union mishandled its response to his investigation into sexual harassment allegations against then-president of the Pittsburgh NewsGuild Michael Fuoco. The NewsGuild and other defendants have denied Elk’s claims.
In September 2022, the NewsGuild sought information on Elk’s investigation methods, as well as for the names of and his communications with the sources who told him about the harassment allegations.
Elk was also asked to identify “every individual associated with the New York Times that you have communicated with regarding the lawsuit and the allegations” within his complaint (former New York Times columnist Ben Smith wrote about Elk’s investigation in December 2020).
After Elk refused to comply, the NewsGuild filed a motion to compel discovery responses from him, which the judge granted.
Elk argues in his responses to the NewsGuild that these communications are protected by the First Amendment and Pennsylvania Shield Law.
In an emailed response to the Tracker’s request for comment, Schleuss, president of the NewsGuild, said: “We have no inherent interest in obtaining Elk’s communications regarding the New York Times reporting, other than to defend against Elk’s baseless legal claims. We have not sought, and will not seek any discovery from the New York Times or from any of its current or former reporters.”
Elk told the Tracker he is scheduled to be deposed by the NewsGuild on Nov. 13.
This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
