Philadelphia Inquirer — Protecting sources

• By: ASNE staff
• On: 05/07/2008 11:54:03
• In: Shield law editorials

The Philadelphia Inquirer
March 26, 2008

The case of former Philadelphia Daily News reporter Toni Locy illustrates, once again, the need for a federal law that protects journalists from revealing confidential sources.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton has fined Locy up to $5,000 a day and ordered her to pay the fine - as much as $45,000 - out of her own pocket. Forbidding a journalist's employer from paying such a fine is unprecedented.

After leaving the Daily News, Locy wrote articles for USA Today about the Justice Department's investigation into the anthrax attacks of 2001. Five people died from the poisonous mailings. Locy's articles focused, as did numerous stories at the time, on Steven J. Hatfill, an Army scientist identified by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft as a "person of interest" in the probe.

Hatfill has never been charged, and he filed a lawsuit against Ashcroft and the FBI claiming invasion of privacy. His lawyers want journalists to name the anonymous sources who identified Hatfill as the chief suspect or revealed information about him.

Locy did reveal the names of two sources after they granted her permission. But she has not disclosed the names of up to 10 other sources who might have given her information about Hatfill. She has said she can't remember them. The judge cited her for contempt last month.

Journalists do have something to learn from this case. The media promise anonymity to sources too often, and without considering the consequences.

In Locy's case, the information she published from anonymous sources wasn't important enough to make it worth the risk. The details she included didn't add much to the public's understanding of the Hatfill probe.

However, the judge's action will chill the flow of information to the public, a result that isn't worth Hatfill learning the identities of people who may or may not have been giving out information about him. Anonymous sources are a valuable tool for informing the public.

The Founding Fathers considered a vigorous and free press integral to a healthy democracy. Just look at Watergate.

In recent years, mainstream journalists have used anonymous sources to break stories such as the shoddy conditions at Walter Reed Medical Center, the Enron scandal, and steroid abuse in Major League Baseball.

Threatening journalists with personal bankruptcy for exposing these wrongs could discourage whistleblowers from talking and journalists from digging. A three-judge panel has stayed the fines against Locy while she appeals.

Her case highlights the need at the federal level for a shield law - something that 49 states and the District of Columbia already have. The House has approved a bill that provides reasonable ground rules for when a journalist can be compelled to reveal confidential sources.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved similar legislation in October, but Senate leaders have yet to bring up the measure for a floor vote. The Senate bill would not protect journalists from revealing sources in cases of terrorism or national security, if they were eyewitnesses to a crime, or if the information is needed to prevent a serious crime.

Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Patrick Leahy, D.-Vt., urged leaders of both parties to bring the bill up for a vote. The legislation provides a reasonable balance between the public's right to know and the need to preserve the integrity of law-enforcement investigations.

The Senate should act on this bill now.