Fainaru-Wada Not Focused On Jail, Hopes To Win On Appeal

By: Joe Strupp Mark Fainaru-Wada is nothing if not optimistic. While the rest of the news world is speculating on the likelihood that he and fellow San Francisco Chronicle reporter Lance Williams could soon be jailed following a judge's order Thursday sentencing them to 18 months behind bars, he remains confident it will not happen.

"I continue to hope and feel that we are going to win at some point," the Chronicle scribe said Friday morning, just hours after the federal judge handed down the sentence, stayed for the moment on appeal. "We hope that someone is going to find some argument in the law. We have a good case and someone is going to recognize we have room here."

Speaking via cell phone from the airport, Fainaru-Wada was waiting to return to a week-long family vacation that had been interrupted by the hearing. He plans to be back at work Monday, where he and Williams will continue their BALCO investigation, jail and hearings not withstanding.

"This is a step in the process that we had to make," Fainaru-Wada said about the hearing. "We are still covering BALCO and whatever stories come around."

Fainaru-Wada stressed that it was not worth spending a lot of time worrying about jail because there was no question that the reporters would do anything to protect their sources. "It is not in our DNA to change course," he declared. "We made a promise and we have to keep that promise. It is not even a choice. I don't want to spend a minute in jail, but that is not part of the consideration."

Asked if he regretted doing the stories or promising confidentiality, he said: "I wouldn't change a thing. There were a number of positive things that came out of this. More than anything we were able to evoke positive change."

Fainaru-Wada and Williams gained national fame in 2004 for revealing grand jury testimony from the federal investigation into the BALCO steroid scandal, which indicated baseball players Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds admitted using steroids. The reporting later resulted in a book, "Game of Shadows," released earlier this year.

But it also drew attention from federal investigators, resulting in a second grand jury to determine who leaked the testimony. That grand jury issued subpoenas for Fainaru-Wada and Williams to testify, which they have defied. The pair were found in contempt and, on Thursday, sentenced to 18 months in prison. The sentence has been stayed pending an appeal that is expected to take several months.

Recognizing that the sentencing is a step toward possible jail, Fainaru-Wada, who is married and the father of two, contends he is not thinking about that. "Jail is something we are not focusing on in that way," he said. "It is better to focus on winning, the appeals process will play itself out."

He said the discussion of jail had been limited even in the past when the reporters and Editor Phil Bronstein first discussed reporting on the leaked testimony more than two years ago. Asked when the first considerations of going to jail to protect their sources came up, Fainaru-Wada said, "I don't remember. We did not spend a lot of time talking about this because we were doing our jobs, covering the story."

The reporter went on to point out the need for reporters to protect sources, whether in relation to a baseball scandal or national security issues. "If reporters don't have the opportunity to use confidential sources judiciously, it will be considerably harder to write stories about government corruption," he said.

During Thursday's hearing, Fainaru-Wada and Williams had some extra backing. Chicago Sun-Times sports writer Rick Telander led a group of out-of-town sports scribes - from TJ Quinn of the New York Daily News to Dave Kindred of The Sporting News - in a show of support at the court house. The group, many wearing T-shirts stating "Sportswriters for Freedom of the Press" even presented a petition to the judge signed by dozens of writers opposing the subpoenas.

"There are some people who understand the situation and appreciate it," Fainaru-Wada said.