I'm proud of these guys for standing up for themselves. Whether or not the girl was cyber-bullied is not the issue here. Kudos to the reporters who refused to be told that their age made them impervious to the full protection of the law. I was once told by a teacher in middle school that when I entered the building I "left my rights at the door." These students did a journalistic investigation and should be fully protected by the Shield Law. As their attorney stated, they did not witness the crime and it is not impossible for the police to find out who did see the photos of this girl on their own. As sad as it is that a life is lost, it would also be unfortunate for the rights of those living to be surrendered as well.

I'm honestly wondering how many of you commenters actually read the article... reading these comments, you'd think that the student journalists were protecting the rapists themselves and refusing to testify in the criminal rape trial. "Give the parents... justice," "obstruction of justice," "someone DIED because of those photos." It's almost as if you're all hoping that, by getting a list of these fifty sources that estimated that ten people had seen the pictures, the Potts family will be able to prove that the pictures "went viral." Logic be damned.

The subpoena was for a CIVIL trial which accuses the school of conspiracy. Furthermore, "Courts can only pierce the reporters’ shield if all other sources have been exhausted or if the reporter is a direct witness to a crime. Neither of these criteria fit the Falcon reporters." Direct quote from the article, which you commenters appear to have ignored. Pay attention especially to that first part - "if all other sources have been exhausted." Seems kind of odd that this criteria in particular doesn't fit, yes?

Yes, someone died. And the parties responsible are being tried IN A DIFFERENT TRIAL, only marginally related to this subpoena. The subpoena in question here will not lead to "[bringing] those that assaulted their daughter and subsequently passed around the photos to justice." Learn to read before making bigger fools of yourselves.

Frankly, I think the Pott's parents should find a way to have these students charged with obstruction of justice. They're NOT professional journalists and not only that, they're minors - their own parents or the school can and should force them to disclose their sources.

Somewhere along the line you realize the difference between being a "journalist" and a decent human being. If you don't give a damn about driving over the bones of the dead just to prove a point then more power to you. Maybe one day you'll be lucky enough to grow up and understand some things are more important. But with the way this country works, probably not . . .

While it's important that the kids who sent out the photos should be caught and punished in some way, let's not lose sight of the fact that the actual perpetrators were arrested and are awaiting trial. I don't however want to punish these teenage reporters for actually sticking to their ethical values.

I'm sorry, but those students should turn in their notes because someone DIED because of those photos. They have the obligation to the Potts family to reveal the identities of the people who may have bullied Audrie, especially since those photos can be classified as child pornography.

I don't think kiddies playing "journalists", sans adequate ethics training, qualifies them as professionals.

Sometimes doing the right thing is more important than your integrity.

I'm torn on this subject: on one hand these students are behaving precisely as they should as journalists, but they hold information that could give a grieving family some resolve; some closure. It's tricky business claiming these students aren't true journalists. If this is the career path they choose, then this is damn good practice for what lies ahead.