(Credit: WV.gov)

Journalists in West Virginia will be protected under a recently signed shield law, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press reported.

The law, effective June 10, will give West Virginia journalists “a nearly absolute reporter’s privilege to refuse to disclose the identity of confidential sources, and documents or other information that could identify confidential sources, in civil, criminal, administrative and grand jury proceedings.”

West Virginia is the 40th state to pass a shield law, according to Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.