By: Joe Strupp The San Francisco Chronicle?s disclosure Thursday that baseball star Jason Giambi admitted in testimony before a grand jury that he used steroids is more than just a reporting scoop. It's also a direct slap at federal investigators who have requested the Chronicle?s sources for testimony in recent months.
In July, Chronicle reporters received a letter from the local U.S. Attorney?s office asking for the source of a previous Chronicle report that stemmed from secret grand jury testimony. At that time, the paper and Editor Phil Bronstein declined to provide the information, and they hinted that such federal inquiries would not deter the paper from similar stories in the future.
On Thursday, the paper showed its willingness to ignore the federal pressure and reported that ?Giambi told the grand jury that he had injected himself with human growth hormone during the 2003 baseball season and had started using steroids at least two years earlier.? The lengthy story by reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams was based on Giambi?s Dec. 11, 2003, testimony in the BALCO steroids case, a transcript of which the Chronicle obtained. (See
summary on E&P Online.)
Federal investigators looking into the BALCO steroid scandal sent two letters to the Chronicle in July, and a similar request to the San Jose Mercury News in August, all but demanding that the papers reveal their sources for the testimony.
In addition to Williams and Fainaru-Wada of the Chronicle, the Chronicle?s Henry Lee, and Mercury News scribes Sean Webby and Elliott Almond received letters in the past asking for documents and the identity of sources used in both paper?s stories about testimony before the grand jury looking into the BALCO situation.
Chronicle editors and reporters received two letters in July from the local U.S. Attorney's Office seeking a copy of the BALCO grand jury testimony transcripts that the Chronicle wrote about in previous stories, as well as information about the identity of the source that provided the transcripts. The paper denied the request.
The Mercury News received similar letters in August following a story that revealed information from the grand jury testimony of the ex-husband of track star Marion Jones, one of several high-profile athletes, including current and former Bay Area baseball stars, rumored to be under investigation in the BALCO case.
At the time, Mercury News attorney James M. Chadwick responded with a Sept. 3 letter that stated, in part, "We have no desire to obstruct you in the discharge of your obligation in any way. However, as it does in every case in which there is an effort to obtain voluntarily or compel the disclosure of confidential sources ... the Mercury News ... must respectfully decline to provide the information you have requested."
One of the letters to the Chronicle was received by reporter Lee on July 28, while the other went to reporters Williams and Fainaru-Wada on July 29. The paper responded with letters denying the requests on Aug. 2 and Aug. 5.
The demands for confidential material in the BALCO case are just the latest in a string of such efforts being made against reporters by federal investigators, which have led to subpoenas and, in Washington, D.C., and Providence, R.I., several contempt orders against journalists.
The other cases include the civil lawsuit brought by former Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee against the federal government and the federal grand jury probe into who leaked the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame.
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