TOSSING OUT THE FIRST BONE
Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post is reporting this morning on New York TimesJudith Miller's testimony at the I. Lewis Libby perjury trial. Miller you all will recall spent nearly three months in jail rather than reveal her sources. Now she is being asked and is answering the very questions she sought to avoid. My question today is how does this affect our work as bloggers? On that day when someone calls or e-mails us with a nugget of truth that could land you in the hoose gow what will be our rights? Does Miller's testimony enhance liberty by exposing corrupt operations at the executive level or degrade the free press from the Gray lady down to our comfortable digs in the blogosphere?
Discuss . . .
Cavalor Epthith
Editor-in-Chief
The Dis Brimstone-Daily Pitchfork
2 Colnu 1 AS
31 January 2007 Anno Domini
posted by Cavalor Epthith at
10:28
2 Comments:
While the Constitution does guarantee freedom of the press, it does not guarantee that members of the press may withhold information in a criminal trial. Mr. Libby's trail is a criminal trial and as such, he is allowed to question and corss-examine those witnesses that have been called by the prosecution.
Ms. Miller's protection of her "off the record" source does not come under the category of "privledged" information and is subject to being deposed or delivered in court. Ms. Miller made the decision to withold the source of her information and was held in contempt by a judge.
Agreement as to "off the record" is an agreement between the source and the journalist and thus many journalists will not accept any "off the record" information from their sources. To enter into these types of information DOES tie the hand of the journalist. It is far better to have the freedom to discover/uncover information on your own rather than to form and alliance with a source.
Any information that the journalist has discovered/uncovered by their journalistic investigation rather than by "leaked feed" is information that is subject to verification and free of collusion. Sure, it makes the job more difficult but it makes the product more defensible under the Constitution. The press should not be the instrument of "un-named" sources.
Well, it doesn't affect me at all. I don't get tips like that.
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