Section 20-144
Finding by Legislature.
The Legislature finds:
(1) That the policy of the State of Nebraska is to insure the free flow of news and other information to the public, and that those who gather, write, or edit information for the public or disseminate information to the public may perform these vital functions only in a free and unfettered atmosphere;
(2) That such persons shall not be inhibited, directly or indirectly, by governmental restraint or sanction imposed by governmental process, but rather that they shall be encouraged to gather, write, edit, or disseminate news or other information vigorously so that the public may be fully informed;
(3) That compelling such persons to disclose a source of information or disclose unpublished information is contrary to the public interest and inhibits the free flow of information to the public;
(4) That there is an urgent need to provide effective measures to halt and prevent this inhibition;
(5) That the obstruction of the free flow of information through any medium of communication to the public affects interstate commerce; and
(6) That sections 20-144 to 20-147 are necessary to insure the free flow of information and to implement the first and fourteenth amendments and Article I, section 5, of the United States Constitution, and the Nebraska Constitution.
Section 20-145
Terms, defined.
For purposes of the Free Flow of Information Act, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) Federal or state proceeding shall include any proceeding or investigation before or by any federal or state judicial, legislative, executive, or administrative body;
(2) Medium of communication shall include, but not be limited to, any newspaper, magazine, other periodical, book, pamphlet, news service, wire service, news or feature syndicate, broadcast station or network, or cable television system;
(3) Information shall include any written, audio, oral, or pictorial news or other material;
(4) Published or broadcast information shall mean any information disseminated to the public by the person from whom disclosure is sought;
(5) Unpublished or nonbroadcast information shall include information not disseminated to the public by the person from whom disclosure is sought, whether or not related information has been disseminated and shall include, but not be limited to, all notes, outtakes, photographs, film, tapes, or other data of whatever sort not itself disseminated to the public through a medium of communication, whether or not published or broadcast information based upon or related to such material has been disseminated;
(6) Processing shall include compiling, storing, transferring, handling, and editing of information; and
(7) Person shall mean any individual, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, association, or other legal entity existing under or authorized by the law of the United States, any state or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any foreign country.
Section 20-146
Procuring, gathering, writing, editing, or disseminating news or other information; not required to disclose to courts or public.
No person engaged in procuring, gathering, writing, editing, or disseminating news or other information to the public shall be required to disclose in any federal or state proceeding:
(1) The source of any published or unpublished, broadcast or nonbroadcast information obtained in the gathering, receiving, or processing of information for any medium of communication to the public; or
(2) Any unpublished or nonbroadcast information obtained or prepared in gathering, receiving, or processing of information for any medium of communication to the public.
Section 20-147
Act, how cited.
Sections 20-144 to 20-147 shall be known and may be cited as the Free Flow of Information Act.
