One mission of the institutional media, recognized by journalists and judges alike, is to uncover the government’s secrets. This mission often involves obtaining information from sources who would face perils if identified. Journalists have historically risked legal penalties to protect sources’ identities, but now surveillance technology allows investigators to unmask leakers through their communication records. Meanwhile, the last two presidential administrations expanded efforts to prosecute leakers of classified information. This article examines the increasingly risky atmosphere for journalists and sources and whether the reporter-source relationship can survive the risks. After examining recent leak prosecutions and the troubling legal and ethical issues they raise, the article concludes that legal solutions are unlikely. However, journalists can combat chilling effects on sources by making source protection a higher ethical priority and by proactively guiding sources to ways they can avoid detection.

受到记者和法官认可的机构媒体的一项任务是揭露政府的秘密。该任务通常涉及从信息来源获得信息，如果发现信息，信息来源将面临危险。新闻工作者历来冒着受到法律处罚以保护消息来源身份的风险，但是现在，监视技术允许调查人员通过其通讯记录来揭露泄密者。同时，最后两个总统政府加大了力度，起诉泄露机密信息的人。本文探讨了记者和消息来源日益危险的氛围，以及记者与消息来源的关系是否可以承受这种风险。在检查了最近的泄漏起诉及其提出的令人困扰的法律和道德问题之后，文章得出结论认为，不太可能采取法律解决方案。然而，