UPDATE: 'Chronicle' Backs Reporters in Barry Bonds Case

By: Two San Francisco Chronicle reporters who wrote a book about Barry Bonds' alleged steroid use were subpoenaed Friday to testify before a federal grand jury regarding court documents they used in their articles, the newspaper reported.

The subpoenas of the authors of "Game of Shadows," Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, called for them to turn over their copies of grand jury transcripts from the 2003 investigation of a steroid distribution ring based at the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative, or BALCO, according to the Chronicle. They also were asked to provide the identity of the person or persons who leaked the secret documents to them.

Fainaru-Wada and Williams used the transcripts in their detailed reporting of the BALCO case that linked well-known athletes to the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Chronicle executive editor Phil Bronstein insisted the reporters are protected under the First Amendment.

"The San Francisco Chronicle unconditionally stands by its reporters in fighting this effort by the government to force them to reveal their confidential sources," Bronstein said. "Reporters are not subject to the rules governing grand jury secrecy, which apply only to some of the people in the room during those proceedings."

Eve Burton, vice president and general counsel for Hearst Corp., which owns the newspaper, said, "The Chronicle and its reporters intend to fight the subpoenas vigorously."

The U.S. Attorney's Office could not immediately be reached for comment.

Because grand jury testimony is taken in secret, it is illegal to leak such transcripts, although it is not illegal to possess them.

According to excerpts of the testimony previously reported by the Chronicle, Bonds testified that he used a clear substance and a cream given to him by a trainer convicted in the case, but said he didn't know they were steroids.

The seven-time NL MVP, two home runs from tying Babe Ruth for second place on the all-time list at 714, has always denied knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Bonds testified that Greg Anderson, his personal trainer, told him the substances were the nutritional supplement flaxseed oil and an arthritis balm.

The substances Bonds described were similar to ones known as "the clear" and "the cream," two steroids at the center of the BALCO scandal. Anderson and three others, including BALCO founder Victor Conte, have pleaded guilty to distribution charges.

Another grand jury now is looking into whether Bonds committed perjury when he testified in the BALCO case.

Fainaru-Wada and Williams released their book last month, saying Bonds began his extensive doping regimen following the 1998 season after seeing the attention Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa generated in their race for the single-season homers record. Bonds later broke that record with 73 homers in 2001.

The book helped prompt baseball commissioner Bud Selig to launch an investigation into steroids use in baseball.

Fainaru-Wada and Williams issued a statement Friday saying their articles "would not have been possible without the help of many people people who are whistleblowers in the truest and best sense of the term."

"The government's actions raise significant First Amendment issues, and we are concerned at any attempt to stifle the public's right to know," they added.

On Sunday, the Chronicle carried a strong editorial backing the reporters, which concluded:

"Why should the average American care about this case? Consider this: If journalists succumbed to government pressure to reveal their sources, how many people with knowledge of serious malfeasance would be willing to risk calling a reporter or slipping evidence of wrongdoing into an envelope so that Americans could learn what their government is doing?

"This is not a theoretical concern. The Bush administration has been highly aggressive about pursuing the sources of leaks; the many examples include revelations about its practice of domestic spying without a required warrant and the existence of a network of secret CIA prisons. This is the same administration that has tried to shape its own version of reality by paying columnists for favorable commentary, narrowing the scope of the Freedom of Information Act, planting a shill "reporter" in the White House press corps, producing faux "news reports" to distribute to TV stations and blocking public access to the papers of former presidents. The list goes on.

"You should be concerned even if you have full faith in President Bush to decide what you need to know. The precedents being set today will determine the news media's ability to investigate what the government is doing in future administrations.

"Indeed, this case is not just about the federal government vs. The Chronicle. It's about whether government has a right to determine what the public can know about its inner workings.

"An assault on press freedom is an assault on one of the foundations of our democracy. Protection of confidential sources is essential to newsgathering. That principle is worth asserting, worth defending, worth defying a government that wants to erode it.

"Williams and Fainaru-Wada have our deep respect, and unflagging support, as they resist this attack on press freedom."