San Deigo Untion Tribune: Jailing journalists

[question everything]

UNION-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL
Jailing journalists

Feds target wrong people in leak probe

February 21, 2005

Two respected journalists, Judith Miller of The New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, are on the brink of going to jail for refusing to divulge confidential sources. A federal grand jury in Washington is demanding that the reporters reveal the names of sources who had knowledge of the leak of a CIA officer's identity. In order to get the sources to talk candidly about this very sensitive matter, the reporters promised them anonymity.

Now, Miller and Cooper are facing up to 18 months in federal prison. This week a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled unanimously that the First Amendment does not protect journalists from being compelled to provide grand jury testimony about a potential crime.

The Justice Department is rightly investigating whether anyone in the Bush administration deliberately leaked the name of CIA analyst Valerie Plame to newspaper columnist Robert Novak in 2003. It is a federal crime to "out" an undercover agent knowingly, and Plame's supporters accuse the Bush administration of intentionally leaking her identity in retaliation for her husband's criticism of the administration. Plame is married to former U.S. diplomat Joseph Wilson.


(snip)

Preserving the confidentiality of unnamed sources is absolutely critical to gathering and reporting the news. Talking to a reporter openly about sensitive subjects can easily cost a government employee, for example, his job. The real beneficiary of a reporter's pledge of anonymity to a source is the public, which otherwise would remain in the dark about the inner workings of government and many other institutions.

In recognition of this reality, many states, including California, have enacted laws shielding journalists from having to betray their confidential relationships, just as lawyers, clergymen and psychiatrists are shielded from testifying against their clients. Unfortunately, the federal government has no shield law for journalists. The prospect of Miller and Cooper spending 18 months behind bars or betraying their sources is an ample demonstration of why a federal shield law is urgently needed.


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050221/news_lz1ed21bottom.html

[Kerrytravelers]

1. Here, try this Kool-Aid. Doens't it taste so good? Join us...join us...

[Tigress DEM]

2. Man, this is why repubs aren't plumbers...

Can you imagine how much of your house would be torn up by a repub trying to find the correct leak in your house?

The front kitchen sink is gushing from the handle that popped off and they want to check your toilet.

Didn't Rumsfield say something about how intelligence isn't his bag or something? No Duh.