> New York Times reporter sent to jail in leak case
> By James Vicini
>
> 4 minutes ago
>
> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A New York Times reporter was jailed on
> Wednesday after she said she could not break her promise and reveal
> her confidential source to a grand jury investigating the leak of a
> covert CIA operative's name to the media.
>
> Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan ordered correspondent Judith
> Miller to jail immediately and said she must stay there until she
> agreed to testify or for the rest of the grand jury's term, which
> lasts through October.
>
Time's Cooper to Testify After Source Frees Him from Confidentiality Agreement The New York Times' Judith Miller refuses to testify.
By Poynter Institute
The Associated Press is reporting that Time's Matthew Cooper has agreed to testify about his sources in the ongoing investigation into the leak of Valerie Plame's name.
The AP said: Cooper took the podium in the court and told the judge, "Last night I hugged my son good-bye and told him it might be a long time before I see him again."
"I went to bed ready to accept the sanctions" for not testifying, Cooper said. But he told the judge that not long before his early afternoon appearance, he had received "in somewhat dramatic fashion" a direct personal communication from his source freeing him from his commitment to keep the source's identity secret.
Poynter's Bob Steele said this: "Cooper's decision seems a logical one given the release of the confidentiality promise given to him by the source. I'm sure that Cooper was sincere in his willingness to fight the good fight on principle and even go to jail. But this development is one that depressurizes the dilemma for Cooper, at least. This was a case that journalists fought nobly but it wasn't the ideal case to argue the principle. In this case, once the journalists had lost their quest for Supreme Court review, the fight on principle lost some of its steam. Time editor Norman Pearlstine's argument that no one is above the law, even journalists, is compelling. Yes, the journalists could choose jail and an act of civil disobedience, but I'm not sure this is the case you would choose for civil disobedience."
AP says that New York Times reporter Judith Miller maintains she will not testify.
The prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, responded to Miller's refusal to name her source by saying that "we can't have 50,000 journalists" each making their own decision about whether to reveal sources.
What does the First Amendment say? 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.
=30=