7.25.24 – Austin-American Statesman
“Protect Journalist-Source Confidentiality – Democracy Depends on It”
by Vanessa Leggett
Excerpts from this article:
Without government protection, journalists reporting confidential source information risk losing their freedom.
This I know better than most.
In the wake of the recent assassination attempt, journalists are having to rely on unnamed sources to piece together just how a gunman was able to set up a sniper’s nest with a clear line of sight to former President Donald Trump.
Without a federal shield law like the PRESS Act to protect journalist-source confidentiality, those with knowledge and the most to lose may choose to stay silent for fear of losing their job.
And journalists reporting confidential source information are at risk of losing their freedom.
This I know better than most.
In 2001, a federal judge found me in contempt of court for refusing to provide confidential source material in a Houston murder-for-hire case. I spent 168 days in federal custody — then the longest jail term served by a U.S. journalist.
Since then, nearly every administration has spied on journalists, threatened them, or both.
It’s become a nonpartisan phenomenon.
In a civil case this year, former CBS and Fox News journalist Catherine Herridge was found in contempt of court for refusing to identify her source(s) in response to a civil subpoena.
Last year, lawmakers threatened journalist Matt Taibbi with jail time for declining to reveal his sources for his Twitter Files reporting.
Before that, the Obama administration called then-Fox News journalist James Rosen’s news gathering a criminal conspiracy and searched his phone, email, bank, and credit card records.
Allowing the government or attorneys to access reporters’ records puts journalists — meant to serve as the watchdog of government — on a government leash.
Both journalists and their potential sources get the message: inform the public at your own peril.
To ensure a well-informed public — the lifeblood of a functioning democracy — this simply cannot continue.
GOOD NEWS ー THE PRESS ACT
Fortunately, it doesn’t have to.
The PRESS Act protects journalists’ confidential relationships with sources, much like the law protects other relationships that depend on confidentiality, from attorneys and clients to priests and congregants.
Protections are subject to common sense exceptions for terrorism and other exigencies.
The PRESS Act already passed the House unanimously.
It has bipartisan Senate support.
The PRESS Act covers all journalists who regularly gather and report news, whether or not they’re employed by an established outlet.
With so many independent digital journalists now operating outside traditional business models, that’s essential.
Because I was a freelancer, the government argued that I wasn't a journalist entitled to protections under the DOJ’s own guidelines, even though my activities were indisputably journalistic.
It’s because of the facts I gathered that prosecutors were interested in my material in the first place.
Catherine Herridge is protecting her source(s) for her reporting on an FBI investigation of a Chinese-American scientist with suspected ties to the Chinese military…
I protected my sources because they trusted me, but that wasn’t the only reason.
Like Herridge and others, I felt compelled to stand up for the First Amendment and the public’s right to be informed without government interference.
Without a federal shield law, valuable sources will continue to rethink coming forward, enabling corruption to flourish and leaving the public uninformed on issues of import — including national security.
What’s more, law enforcement is unable to use information journalists would’ve uncovered if sources were comfortable speaking up.
CONCLUSION
What unnamed sources are willing to share with journalists could play a vital role in getting to the bottom of the nearly successful assassination of a former president.
Without informed sources talking to the press, the public will have to trust the government investigating the government for answers.
Leggett is a freelance journalist and former adjunct professor at St. Edward's University. Her work has appeared in Esquire, Newsweek, and Texas Monthly.