- NEW YORK -- The right of
journalists in the United States to withhold the identity of their sources
has come under unprecedented assault, with reporters from several of the
country's most prestigious news organisations now under threat of jail
and punitive fines from judges and the Justice Department.
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- The sudden onslaught, prompted by published stories that
have since triggered investigations and civil lawsuits, is spreading alarm
through the profession. Presently, the ability of reporters in this country
to protect their sources is based somewhat flimsily on an interpretation
of the US Constitution.
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- Nathan Siegel, a lawyer with the Associated Press news
agency, said this week: "There seems to be more willingness on the
part of the judiciary to limit press freedoms." The AP is among four
news outlets under pressure in a case concerning Wen Ho Lee, a nuclear
scientist accused of stealing secrets from the Los Alamos nuclear facility
who was later largely cleared.
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- Mr Lee is suing to find out who leaked erroneous information
about him during the investigation under the Clinton administration. Last
week, a US District Court judge ordered reporters from AP, The New York
Times, The Los Angeles Times and ABC to pay $500 (£275) a day in
fines for refusing to reveal their sources. The fines have been suspended
pending appeals. In another case, a federal judge held Matthew Cooper of
Time magazine in contempt for refusing to tell a grand jury who gave him
the name of an undercover CIA agent. He remains free pending an appeal.
The agent was Valerie Plame, wife of a former US ambassador, Joe Wilson.
Her name surfaced after Mr Wilson accused Washington of wrongly asserting
that Iraq sought to buy nuclear materials from Niger. Other journalists
who have become ensnared in the Plame investigation include Bob Novak,
the prominent Chicago columnist and CNN commentator, and Tim Russert, the
political editor of NBC.
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- There are other cases. Last week, a federal court began
collecting a fine of $1,000 a day from an NBC reporter in Rhode Island
who has declined to reveal sources that helped him report a corruption
case. On Thursday, three reporters at the San Francisco Chronicle received
prosecutors' letters demanding to know sources in stories they recently
reported.
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- Phil Bronstein, the Chronicle's editor, told staff: "As
you know, the Justice Department has been aggressively pursuing journalists
on the confidential source issue." He said the newspaper would refuse
to disclose the information.
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- Lucy Dalglish, the executive director of the Reporters
Committee for Freedom of the Press, said: "I think we're setting up
a real showdown here." She predicted that the journalists would not
be "intimidated into revealing their confidential sources". She
added. "The government is trying to keep more and more secrets, and
journalists are working harder to uncover those secrets. Given the terrorism
climate, all this has come to a head."
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- Press freedom organisations are pressing for the Supreme
Court or the US Congress to clarify the law. Experts warn that any new
laws could result in tighter restrictions.
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=553673
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