Journalists seeking to protect sources face increasing legal perils

[Scro]

Three times this summer, judges have held journalists in contempt of court for refusing to name their anonymous sources in what press advocates fear is the start of a dangerous trend.

Media organizations and their attorneys see an unprecedented threat to the widespread agreements by which reporters promise sources not to identify them by name in order to receive valuable and often sensitive information. Reporters have long argued that the Constitution's guarantee of a free press shields them from being forced to disclose what they have learned in confidence.

Just Thursday, three reporters from the San Francisco Chronicle received letters from the local U.S. attorney's office seeking documents confidential sources gave them for ongoing stories.

"As you know, the Justice Department has been aggressively pursuing journalists on the confidential source issue in a number of cases," Chronicle Editor Phil Bronstein wrote in a staff memo Thursday.

http://www.boston.com/ae/media/articles/2004/08/19/journalists_seeking_to_protect_sources_face_increasing_legal_perils/

[displacedtexan]

1. Clue me in hers, folks...

I always thought that journalists protected sources (AKA whistle blowers) from adverse repercussions by the offending (AKA criminal/ unethical) party.

I had no idea that the criminal/unethical party could hide behind the "freedom of the press" shield.

[Democat]

2. What is a journalist anymore? The Arkansas Project claimed to be, right?

Everyone is a journalist for their own protection when it comes to politics now.

Is there anyone in Bush's camp who isn't supposedly a "journalist" - very few.

Most of the partisans in America claim to be journalists.

I don't know the answer to how to handle this one.

[The Zanti Regent]

3. When PRESSTITUTES kiss the ass of the Nazi Party...

...They get what they deserve!

[Malva Zebrina]

4. They've abused it--especially Novak

when this priviledge is used to harm, and I believe Novak knew the harm he was doing, they deserve to lose it. Like everything else under this fascist regime of Bush, they have run roughshod over every ethical and moral imperative that has been tradition in order to please Rove and Bush.