Why journalists need shield laws

Thanks to a court case called McKevitt vs. Pallasch, which, sorry, I inadvertently provoked by refusing to turn over tapes of interviews with a witness in a terrorism trial, journalists have few rights to assert when brought into federal court here. We are fine in state court, where a state shield law protects us.

The idea, I argued to Fitzgerald, is that whistleblowers should feel comfortable telling journalists about corruption in the public or private sector so that we can write investigative stories that often result in Fitzgerald’s prosecution of corrupt officials. The fastest way to dry up those valuable leaks, I said, is to send the message to sources that the reporter might later be pressured to give up their names to avoid going to jail.

Fitzgerald said he accepted that argument to a point.

“There are also cases made throughout the country, including here in Chicago, where we haven’t a clue that a crime is being committed, and we pick up the paper and we read about it and the press does a remarkable job, particularly investigative reporters, to expose things to the light of day,” he said. “Reporters are obviously trying to defend the right to know of the public and the right to encourage people to come forward and be honest. . . . At the same time, starting with prosecutors from the criminal perspective, we’d like [to ensure] the public’s right . . . to hear evidence and, if it’s in a grand jury, to know everything they need to know to make an informed decision whether to charge and to charge the right person with the right crime.”

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a version of the shield law that allows journalists to fight subpoenas dealing with both confidential and non-confidential sources. An evolving Senate version of the bill covers only confidential sources (not non-confidential sources such as the men who claimed to have been beaten by cops), and so it would be of no use to reporters in these cases.

The House and Senate versions of the bill also differ on how broadly to define “journalist.” Do bloggers count? President Obama campaigned in favor of a shield law and is expected to sign whatever version can pass both houses.

Walton said he could favor a version of the law with adequate exemptions. Fitzgerald took no stand. Here’s my stand: Rent “Nothing but the Truth.” Yes, it’s a fictionalization. But it persuasively makes the point that jailing journalists is the wrong approach.

 

As Alan Alda, playing a lawyer, argues before the Supreme Court in the movie: “Imprisoning journalists? That’s for other countries. That’s for countries who fear their citizens, not countries who cherish and protect them.”            

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Nster.com