Unfortunately, it's not as simple as protecting a source. Most shield laws, or proposed shield laws, as I understand them, protect a journalist from revealing a source who is exposing wrongdoing that is in the public interest. This is not the same thing. The act of leaking the identity of Ms. Plame is, itself, a crime, not the exposing of wrongdoing. Now, sending her to jail certainly betrays the spirit of shield laws, but freedom of the press does not necessarily protect a journalist who is shielding a felon. On 10/19/05, Chris Clymer <cclymer@gmail.com> wrote:
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You're just trolling, right?
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Sending a reporter to jail for not revealing her source sure sounds like its infringing on freedom of the press to me. The issue isn't HER. The issue is that if I'm someone that wants to blow the whistle on something, I'm going to be less likely to do it if the reporter I tell might reveal me as her source. And of course, reporters might be less likely to cover such stories if they may end up choosing between protecting the source and jail.
"On July of 2005, Miller was jailed for contempt of court by refusing to testify before a federal grand jury investigating a leak naming Valerie Plame as a covert CIA agent. Miller did not write about Plame, but is reportedly in possession of evidence relevant to the leak investigation. According to a subpoena, Miller met with an unnamed government official ? later revealed to be "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff ? on July 8, 2003, two days after former ambassador Joseph Wilson published an Op-Ed in the Times criticizing the Bush administration for "twisting" intelligence to justify war in Iraq. (Plame's CIA identity was revealed by political commentator Robert Novak on July 14, 2003.)"
That woman went to jail for not revealing the source, on a story SHE NEVER EVEN WROTE. Thats dedication.
Major Variola (ret.) wrote:
So this dupe/spy/wannabe journalist thinks that journalists should be *special*.. how nice. Where in the 1st amendment is the class journalists mentioned? She needs a WMD enema.
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- New York Times reporter Judith Miller defended her decision to go to jail to protect a source and told a journalism conference Tuesday that reporters need a federal shield law so that others won't face the same sanctions.
http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=1104064
- -- Chris Clymer - Chris@ChrisClymer.com PGP: E546 19B6 D1EC 47A7 CAA0 8623 C807 398C CD27 15B8
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