'Chicago Trib' Editorial: Reporters Should Testify in Plame Case

By: E&P Staff Is the media now of two minds on press freedoms tested by the current Valerie Plame probe? The Chicago Tribune, in an editorial, argued today that certain reporters in the Plame case should be compelled to reveal confidential sources. The editorial also mentions that a leading First Amendment authority, and an advisory board member of the American Civil Liberties Union, feels the same way.

Special prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago, has issued subpoenas to several journalists, including Matt Cooper of Time magazine, who co-wrote an article reporting that "some government officials" had revealed Plame's CIA identity to the magazine. "If so, that would make the recipient of the leak -- Cooper, a veteran Washington journalist -- a witness to a serious federal crime," the Tribune editorial declared. "When Cooper refused to appear before a grand jury to answer questions about the identity of his sources, a judge held him in contempt. Time was ordered to pay a fine of $1,000 a day and Cooper was ordered to jail, although these sanctions have been suspended pending an appeal of the judge's ruling.

"News organizations invariably resist subpoenas to name confidential sources, and with good reason," the Tribune editorial continued. But the piece concluded: "It would be hard to find a stronger case than Cooper's for demanding that a reporter identify a confidential source than when he has been an actual witness to a serious crime. University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone, a member of the advisory board of the American Civil Liberties Union and a renowned First Amendment scholar, says Fitzgerald had every reason to subpoena Cooper, and that Cooper should testify.

"Should he refuse, it's only appropriate that he face the same consequences as any other citizen. If someone in the federal government knowingly outed Valerie Plame despite the danger it might create for her, that person deserves to feel the full force of the law. If any ordinary citizen had valuable information about the crime, he or she would have a duty to turn it over. In this instance, it's hard to see why Matt Cooper or any reporter should be excused from that duty."