US court weighs up journalists rights
Publish date: 21 December 2004
Issue Number: 1242
Diary: Legalbrief Today
Category: Media
A panel of Federal Appeals Court judges is expected to make a decision next year in a case that pits reporters\' ability to gather information against the Justice Department\'s right to require their testimony in its investigation of suspected leaks from the Bush Administration.
The Washington Post reports the ruling will be the first time in 30 years that a court has specifically addressed whether reporters must break their promise to unnamed sources when a prosecutor is trying to solve a crime. In the case at hand, reporters Matthew Cooper, of Time magazine, and Judith Miller, of The New York Times , can be jailed for refusing to appear before a grand jury investigating whether administration officials illegally identified a covert CIA operative to reporters in the summer of 2003. The Federal Appeals Court judges have hinted that reporters might be able to refuse to reveal the names of their confidential sources in selected criminal investigations but have no blanket protection against the responsibility to testify before a grand jury. Time and The New York Times appealed the decision of a lower court judge, who found Miller and Cooper in contempt of court for refusing to appear before a grand jury investigating the suspected leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame\'s name to the media. Full report in The Washington Post
