(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced outrage over the running fine imposed on Jim Taricani for refusing to reveal his sources to a court. Taricani is a reporter for the WJAR-TV10 television station in Providence, Rhode Island. On 16 March 2004, Federal Judge Ernest C. Torres found Taricani to be “in contempt of court” and ordered […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced outrage over the running fine imposed on Jim Taricani for refusing to reveal his sources to a court. Taricani is a reporter for the WJAR-TV10 television station in Providence, Rhode Island.
On 16 March 2004, Federal Judge Ernest C. Torres found Taricani to be “in contempt of court” and ordered him to pay US$1,000 a day until he reveals his sources. Payment of the fine has been delayed while Taricani appeals the sentence.
“A United States court is once again threatening the confidentiality of sources, which is the cornerstone of press freedom,” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said. “Forcing journalists to identify their sources jeopardises the basis of investigative journalism, which is essential to democracy,” Ménard added. RSF urged the appeals court to reverse Judge Torres’ decision.
Taricani has refused to reveal the identity of the person who gave him a videotape that was made in the course of an FBI undercover investigation. Screened on 1 February 2001, the tape shows a senior Providence city hall official accepting a bribe from an FBI informant. Providence Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci Jr. was later sentenced to five years in prison for “corruption”.
A special investigation was ordered into the leak, as the videotape was subject to a protective order issued by a federal court in August 2000 expressly forbidding lawyers, investigators or defendants from disseminating tapes connected with the case, in order to “avoid compromising the ongoing grand jury investigation”. In October 2003, Judge Torres said the need to know Taricani’s source outweighed any harm that might be done to the right to free flow of information.
Taricani told the local press he would not reveal his sources because he felt he was protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to free expression. His lawyer has appealed the ruling, thus delaying the imposition of the fine.
The confidentiality of sources has repeatedly been a bone of contention between the courts and journalists in the United States. In October 2003, a federal judge ordered five journalists from “The New York Times”, the “Los Angeles Times”, the Associated Press and the CNN television network to reveal their sources (see IFEX alert of 17 October 2003). They were covering the case of Wen Ho Lee, a scientist who was accused of spying and later cleared of the charges. The judge ruled that Wen Ho Lee had a right to know the identity of the official responsible for the leaks that led to the news reports on the spying allegations.
In July 2001, journalist Vanessa Leggett was imprisoned for nearly six months for “contempt of court” after she refused to reveal to a Texas court the content of her interview with a crime suspect (see IFEX alerts of 4 January 2002, 22 November, 4 October, 23, 8 and 1 August 2001).
