- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amid
concerns that journalists' rights may be under attack, the first of three
reporters from major U.S. media outlets will defy on Wednesday an order
by a federal judge to disclose their sources in an unfounded espionage
case, their lawyers said.
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- Journalists from The Associated Press, the Los Angeles
Times and a former CNN reporter have been subpoenaed by Wen Ho Lee, a scientist
once suspected of spying.
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- Lee, who was never charged with espionage, has filed
a lawsuit against the government, accusing officials of violating his privacy
by leaking personal employment records to reporters.
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- Lawyers for the AP's Josef Hebert, the LA Times' Robert
Drogin and former CNN reporter Pierre Thomas told Reuters their clients
would "honor their commitments to their sources" in their depositions,
which come less than a month after two New York Times reporters defied
an order in the same case by U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson
to disclose the sources.
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- The first deposition was scheduled for later on Wednesday,
with two more the next day, the lawyers said.
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- By refusing to heed Jackson's order, the reporters could
be found in contempt of court and punished with jail terms or "indefinite
fines" until they comply.
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- Jackson earlier denied the journalists' motions to quash
the subpoenas, ordering them to give depositions disclosing the identity
of their sources. Lawyers and media advocacy groups say the reporters'
refusal to obey the judge could set an important precedent for journalistic
privilege, which they say is guaranteed by First Amendment right of freedom
of the press.
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- Some fear the privilege is at risk, pointing to several
cases in recent months in which judges have denied reporters the right
to keep sources secret.
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- "I do think that the Wen Ho Lee case is one part
of what appears to be a pattern of recent judicial resistance to recognizing
and enforcing the privilege," said Lee Levine, a lawyer representing
two of the journalists.
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- Kevin Goldberg, a lawyer for the American Society of
Newspaper Editors, said: "I think that because of the magnitude not
only of the (Wen Ho Lee) case and the very sensitive issues, but also the
prominence of the journalists involved, that it will be a precedent-setting
case."
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- Lee subpoenaed the five reporters in hopes their testimony
would prove the U.S. Departments of Justice and Energy and the FBI news
web sites) violated his privacy rights.
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- U.S. law does not grant absolute privilege to journalists,
which would be comparable to that of a priest or a doctor, but reporters
have long argued that the First Amendment implicitly grants that privilege.
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- Lee was fired from his job at the Energy Department's
Los Alamos National Laboratory in March 1999 amid allegations of spying
for China.
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- He only pleaded guilty to one count of downloading nuclear
weapons design secrets to a non-secure computer after the government's
case against him collapsed.
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