Va. Reporter Faces Contempt Charge

By: Joe Strupp Just a year after graduating from college, Chris Dumond is getting a first-hand lesson in one of journalism's basics: keeping confidential sources confidential. But it may land him in jail.

Dumond, a 23-year-old reporter for the Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier, is facing a possible contempt-of-court charge for not revealing the source of information he received in a sealed warrant related to the detention of a local doctor in a terrorism-related probe. During a July 22 hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Pamela M. Sargent ordered Dumond to reveal the source. He declined.

Sargent then ordered Dumond to return Aug. 6 and provide the source's identity -- or face a contempt charge that could result in a $5,000 fine or up to 30 days in jail. Virginia has no shield law protecting reporters' rights to keep sources confidential.

"I'm not surprised by the court's concern," said attorney Craig Merritt, who is representing Dumond and the newspaper. "But when people involved in a secret process become news sources for a reporter on condition that their identity remain confidential, reporters take that promise seriously."

The potential charge stems from five articles Dumond wrote between June 26 and July 11 on Dr. Tajammul Bhatti, a Pakistani psychiatrist who was detained June 20 as a material witness in a federal grand-jury probe. Investigators believed Bhatti might have had information about potential terrorism and development of weapons of mass destruction.

After six days, he was released. He was never charged with any crime.

As part of the continuing grand-jury investigation, Dumond was asked to reveal who provided him with access to the sealed warrant.

Tom English, managing editor of the Herald Courier, a 41,364-daily-circulation paper owned by Media General Inc., told E&P that the paper continues to back Dumond. "We try to protect sources in order to maintain an honest, credible tie to the community," he said.

Dumond, who joined the paper in December after a short stint with The Sun Journal in New Bern, N.C., remains on the job as the paper's Washington County reporter. He declined to comment to E&P on the potential contempt charge, citing his attorney's directive: "They've zipped my lips."