Judge Rules Publisher Must Turn Over Data

[DoYouEverWonder]

October 4, 2005, 7:17 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- A judge ruled Tuesday in a First Amendment case that publisher McGraw-Hill must surrender data to government regulators about possible price manipulation in the natural gas market.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said the reporter's privilege to protect the confidentiality of sources is outweighed by the government's need for the information.

"News gatherers are not entitled to an absolute privilege," Lamberth wrote.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has evidence that an unnamed energy company allegedly attempted to affect prices in the natural gas market by submitting false data to Platts, a McGraw-Hill division. Platts produces a monthly report that can influence prices, potentially affecting billions of dollars worth of natural gas transactions.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-energy-probe,0,7225584.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

[annabanana]

1. Could this affect the purported 70% increase that we've been

warned to expect this winter?

(counting local trees and figuring out where to put the wood burning stove)

[skids]

2. Recommended. This could brew into...

...yet another corporate scandal. Who wants to lay odds there's an Abramoff connected Repug close to the source of it?

[MADem]

3. Interesting justification by the judge

Lamberth noted the long-held distinction in which the reporter's privilege is typically overcome in a criminal investigation; in civil cases, confidentiality typically prevails.

Lamberth said that while the CFTC is not investigating criminal wrongdoing as in a grand jury probe, the agency is investigating possible violations of law.

"Just as criminal laws aspire to protect the public, the false reporting and price manipulation provisions of the Commodities Exchange Act are also designed to protect the public," Lamberth wrote.

"To the extent that Platts' publications were erroneous, the public interest in truthful news reporting -- the very interest safeguarded by the privilege -- is threatened," the judge stated.

[Spinzonner]

4. It's also not clear to me that McGraw Hill is acting as an independent

free press in this situation. It seems to be the result of a cooperative relationship with an industry that performs an information gathering and distribution function that is mutually beneficial.

Seems more like a venture in some respects.

[KAZ]

6. Couldn't agree with you more.

Kinda like Judy Miller and the NYT.

[stillcool]

5. Kenny-boy ....

[jazzjunkysue]

7. unnamed energy company, in an undisclosed location, another dimension

Who Is ITTT??????