Reporter Avoids Jail in Source Disclosure Case
A Rhode Island television reporter was sentenced to six months of house arrest on Thursday for refusing to reveal the identity of a source.
A federal judge convicted investigative journalist Jim Taricani last month of criminal contempt for not saying who gave him a surveillance videotape in a FBI corruption investigation. After the conviction, a defense lawyer came forward and identified himself as Taricani’s source.
My only question is, when does the defense lawyer get convicted of criminal contempt for refusing to reveal his or her source?
That defense lawyer was guilty of a breach of a gag order that had been issued, as it all pertained to evidence in the case. In actuality, that attorney had disclosed his identity before the adjudication on the reporter’s case was made. He claimed he had released the reporter from any right to confidentiality by that action, so the entire case is muddled beyond belief.
Comment by MommaBear — 10 Dec, 2004 @ 10:31