Today 'Kaleidoscope'; Tomorrow the 'New York Times.'

This paper examines the facts of the Knops case, a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision that deals with freedom of the press, underground newspapers, and reporter's privilege (not to reveal a news source), and surveys the news coverage of the Knops case to evaluate the stance of the Wisconsin press in regard to reporter's privilege. The paper concludes that the Wisconsin media coverage of the Knops case was extensive but little better than no coverage at all, since the media did not accept responsibility for educating the public about the value, to the public, of reporter's privilege or about the challenge to freedom of the press that was created by the decision in the Knops case. (Author/RL)