‘Journalism under siege’ proclaimed the cover of The Walkley Magazine, an Australian publication dedicated to promoting journalism excellence in its March 2017 issue. This headline reflects the severe disruption journalism is experiencing globally. Facts used to be facts and news was news but now we have ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news’ (Media Watch, 2017). Against this backdrop, a persistent dilemma for journalism has been the impact of the law on journalists relying on confidential sources who play a critical part in providing access to information. The journalism profession’s apparent source protection gains have been undermined by legislative and other assaults, and it has had a chilling effect on journalists’ contacts with confidential sources. The Australian journalists’ union, the Media Alliance, has warned that ‘it is only a matter of time’ before a journalist is convicted for refusing to disclose a confidential source (Murphy, 2017, p. 3). This article builds on earlier work examining how Australian journalists are coping in their dealings with confidential sources. This article (a) reports on the findings from an Australian study into journalists’ confidential sources and (b) identifies lessons and reform potentials arising from these findings.

中文翻译：

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传递源头—面对立法攻击，新闻界的机密性受到损害

``被围困的新闻业''在2017年3月发行的澳大利亚《沃克利杂志》（Walkley Magazine）的封面上，该出版物致力于促进卓越的新闻事业。该标题反映了全球新闻业正在遭受的严重破坏。事实曾经是事实，新闻是新闻，但现在我们有了``另类事实''和``假新闻''（媒体观察，2017年）。在这种背景下，新闻业一直面临的困境一直是法律对新闻记者的影响，新闻记者依赖于在提供信息访问方面起关键作用的机密消息来源。新闻业的明显的消息来源保护收益已受到立法和其他攻击的破坏，并且对记者与机密消息来源的接触产生了令人不寒而栗的影响。澳大利亚新闻工作者联盟，媒体联盟，曾警告说，新闻记者因拒绝透露机密消息而被定罪只是``时间问题''（Murphy，2017，p.3）。本文以早期工作为基础，研究了澳大利亚记者如何应对机密消息来源。本文（a）报告了澳大利亚对记者秘密来源进行的一项研究的调查结果，（b）指出了从这些调查结果中得出的教训和改革潜力。