Anonymous Columnists
Q: Does anything in the law compel a newspaper to divulge the identify of a columnist who prefers to remain anonymous? Are Realtors, or persons engaged in the Real Estate business restricted in the opinions they may express about real estate?
A: In your inquiry, you pose two questions. Turning to your first inquiry, as a general matter, a newspaper is not obligated to disclose the identity of a columnist or other contributor who wishes to remain anonymous. The exception to this rule would be a situation where the newspaper receives a subpoena compelling the release of the columnist’s identity, or where the newspaper is sued and one of the parties to the litigation seeks the identity of the columnist through the course of discovery. In such a case, the newspaper would still have a strong argument that the columnist’s identity should remain confidential (the courts have recognized a First Amendment interest in anonymous speech), but it would have to persuade the judge to adopt its argument, and the outcome would be highly dependent on the facts and circumstances of the particular case.
As to your second inquiry, as a condition of their licensing, real estate agents and brokers are subject to certain rules regarding the representations and disclosures they must make to certain classes of people (e.g., sellers and buyers, as well as prospective sellers and buyers). The extent to which these rules have been or could be applied to an agent or broker’s speech in newspaper column is an interesting question that would certainly raise First Amendment issues. However, answering that question would require a detailed analysis of the broker and agent rules at issue, which is unfortunately beyond the scope of the services we can provide as part of this free hotline.