Can a newsman who has a confidential relationship with a police officer be sued for breach of privilege over the disclosure of confidential information?

The press considers its role to be a special one; that it has a qualified privilege and that the onus is on the union to show that it should not be respected. The applicant adopts the reasoning of Powell J. in Branzburg v. Hayes in the United States Supreme Court Reports, 408 U.S. 665, 33 L. 2d 626, 92 S. Ct. 2646 (1972), which indicated that the courts would protect the newsman’s confidential relationship where the perceived evidence was crucial to whoever sought it and where it was relevant and where all alternative sources to obtain the information had been exhausted. The learned justice said at p. 656: The asserted claim to privilege should be judged on its facts by the striking of a proper balance between freedom of the press and the obligation of all citizens to give relevant testimony with respect to criminal conduct. The balance of these vital constitutional and societal interests on a case-by-case basis accords with the tried and traditional way of adjudicating such questions.