(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called on a United States (US) federal judge to rescind the order he issued to five journalists on 14 October 2003 to reveal their confidential sources. The journalists were ordered to reveal their sources for reports about accusations of espionage against Wen Ho Lee, a nuclear scientist at the Los Alamos […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called on a United States (US) federal judge to rescind the order he issued to five journalists on 14 October 2003 to reveal their confidential sources. The journalists were ordered to reveal their sources for reports about accusations of espionage against Wen Ho Lee, a nuclear scientist at the Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory in New Mexico.
“Confidentiality of sources is the cornerstone of press freedom,” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said in a letter to Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson of the US District Court in Washington. “Forcing journalists to name their sources threatens one of the bases of investigative journalism, an essential element of democracy,” Ménard added.
The judge ordered the five journalists to disclose the names of their sources to Lee’s lawyer. The nuclear scientist launched a lawsuit claiming damages from the Energy and Justice Departments for revealing confidential information about him to the press in 1999.
The targeted journalists are Jeff Gerth and James Risen of “The New York Times”, Robert Drogin of the “Los Angeles Times”, H. Josef Hebert of the Associated Press (AP) agency and Pierre Thomas, who then worked for the CNN television network.
The judge ruled that Lee has a right to know who in the administration was responsible for the leaks that resulted in news reports that he was suspected of spying on behalf of China. “It would be frivolous to assert . . . that the First Amendment, in the interest of securing news or otherwise, confers a licence on either the reporter or his news sources to violate valid criminal laws,” the judge said.
Lee spent nine months in prison after being indicted in 1999, but the charges were subsequently dropped and he was released. The journalists concerned could be imprisoned for contempt of court if they refuse to comply with the judge’s orders. “The New York Times” and AP are planning to appeal the ruling, while the other news media outlets have said they are “studying the judge’s decision.”
