Established 1826 — Oldest College Newspaper West of the Alleghenies

Journalists need immunity from revealing sources

(Eric Frey)

A federal judge ordered Sept. 21, 2006 that sports reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, of The San Francisco Chronicle, be jailed for 18 months, holding them in contempt of court. The two were jailed for failing to testify for an investigation of who leaked grand jury testimony for their book on Barry Bonds and steroids, Game of Shadows. This event is a sad moment for journalists and a blow to their First Amendment rights. It brings into focus the need for a federal shield law to help protect reporters and continue to encourage whistleblowers to provide critical knowledge for the public good.

A federal shield law would protect journalists from jail time if they refuse to reveal their sources to government prosecutors. While there are some state shield laws protecting journalists from having to reveal their sources, the lack of a federal law leaves them open to federal prosecution, which has been a common occurrence recently. Such a shield law would ideally protect journalists while still allowing provisions that in extreme circumstances, such as national security interests, could compel reporters to reveal their sources for a story.

Journalists have the important role of serving as the watchdog to ensure that government and other groups are held accountable. To perform this needed service, journalists sometimes rely on anonymous sources who can be guaranteed that their identity will be kept secret. Without this protection most sources would not risk their jobs or the other repercussions of revealing privileged internal information. Continued pressure on journalists to reveal sources will not only have an effect on potential sources that would otherwise be willing to talk with journalists, it will also have an effect on the types of stories journalists are able to invesitgate, a chilling effect that sharply limits investigative stories as well as their ability to hold other groups accountable.

One possible concern with a federal shield law is that there are no standards for what qualifies someone as a journalist. But, this could be solved with the institution of an accreditation process. Also, while the abovementioned reporters did receive their information from a source who violated the law, the fact that a law was broken must be weighed against the public benefits that have accrued. Thanks to these two journalists, sports organizations have begun to hold players to much higher standards with regards to drug testing.

As journalists, the editorial board finds this issue particularly pertinent, and finds it important to defend the First Amendment rights cases like these attack, both for the benefit of the profession and the public.