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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 652
Columnist
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OP
Columnist
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 652 |
Reporter convicted of contempt Journalist refused to reveal source of FBI videotape Thursday, November 18, 2004 Posted: 6:06 PM EST (2306 GMT) PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) -- A Providence, Rhode Island, television reporter was convicted of criminal contempt Thursday for refusing to say who gave him an FBI videotape showing a city official taking a bribe. Jim Taricani, of WJAR, is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres on December 9. The undercover tape was aired prominently and repeatedly by the station. Taricani faces up to six months in prison. The tape was part of a federal probe into corruption at Providence City Hall during former Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci Jr.'s administration. Taricani, 55, broke no law by airing the tape, which shows Frank Corrente, a top aide for Cianci, taking an envelope stuffed with cash from an undercover FBI informant. But attorneys, investigators and defendants were under court order not to disseminate any tapes connected to the probe, and a special prosecutor had been appointed to find out who leaked the tape. Torres has said the leak was meant to either disrupt the corruption investigation at City Hall or deprive defendants of a fair trial by influencing prospective jurors. The tape aired in 2001, two months before Cianci, Corrente and others were indicted in the investigation code-named "Operation Plunder Dome." Both Cianci and Corrente were convicted and are serving time in federal prison. Around the nation, several reporters face possible fines or jail, including in cases of the leaked identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame and a lawsuit against the government by nuclear physicist Wen Ho Lee. Taricani would be the first of this crop of reporters to go to jail on a charge of criminal contempt. http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/11/18/mum.reporter.ap/index.html * * * * * This struck me as something that would happen to Lois.
I believe there's a hero in all of us that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams. -- Aunt May, Spider-Man 2
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Joined: Apr 2003
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Boards Chief Administrator Emeritus Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Boards Chief Administrator Emeritus Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 9,362 |
Interesting. I was under the impression that a reporter's right to protect a source's confidentiality was enshrined in the US, even more than it is here in the UK. Wasn't it written into the constitution? Has that changed then? Or has it never been a constitutional right and I've been listening to too many TV shows over the years?  LabRat 
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
The Musketeers
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Joined: May 2003
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 291 |
It *did* almost happen to her in the episode Top Copy... But she came forward with her source before things got too crazy. (Okay so it was her and Clark... wouldn't have been much of a show after that, if they'd both been thrown in jail, would it?) 
Molly
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 516
Columnist
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Columnist
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 516 |
It is in the right of a reporter to protect their sources. But it is the right of free speech. It is more of an implied right. However everyone was under court order not to disseminate any thing connected with the case. Therefore the person who gave him the tape was in violation of the law. So the reporter is essence helping to cover a criminal activity. Who knew when he took the tape the man was not suppose to be giving it to him.
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Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
Joined: Jul 2004
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Shield laws are a part of the state governments, not the national government, and not all states have shield laws (roughly 3/5 do). An example of a shield law might be something like: 44.520 Limitation on compellable testimony from media persons; search of media persons' papers, effects or work premises prohibited; exception.
No person connected with, employed by or engaged in any medium of communication to the public shall be required by a legislative, executive or judicial officer or body, or any other authority having power to compel testimony or the production of evidence, to disclose, by subpoena or otherwise:
(a) The source of any published or unpublished information obtained by the person in the course of gathering, receiving or processing information for any medium of communication to the public; or
(b) Any unpublished information obtained or prepared by the person in the course of gathering, receiving or processing information for any medium of communication to the public.
No papers, effects or work premises of a person connected with, employed by or engaged in any medium of communication to the public shall be subject to a search by a legislative, executive or judicial officer or body, or any other authority having power to compel the production of evidence, by search warrant or otherwise. The provisions of this subsection, however, shall not apply where probable cause exists to believe that the person has committed, is committing or is about to commit a crime. [1973 c.22 s.3; 1979 c.820 s.1] 44.530 Application of ORS 44.520.
ORS 44.520 applies regardless of whether a person has disclosed elsewhere any of the information or source thereof, or any of the related information.
ORS 44.520 continues to apply in relation to any of the information, or source thereof, or any related information, even in the event of subsequent termination of a person's connection with, employment by or engagement in any medium of communication to the public.
The provisions of ORS 44.520 (1) do not apply with respect to the content or source of allegedly defamatory information, in civil action for defamation wherein the defendant asserts a defense based on the content or source of such information. [1973 c.22 ss.4,5; 1979 c.820 s.2] The federal government does *not* have a shield law, and most state shield laws have particular loopholes in which reporters can be compelled for certain information. Freedom of speech and of the press are indeed in our constitution, but the Supreme Court has ruled in the past that reporters have no right under the 1st Amendment of the constitution to refuse to testify before grand juries. Generally if a reporter's information cannot be otherwise obtained, the government is able to compel revelation. This is a good article if you're really interested on the subject: http://ojr.org/ojr/law/1086825172.php
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 9,362
Boards Chief Administrator Emeritus Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Boards Chief Administrator Emeritus Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 9,362 |
Ah, I see. Thanks for the information, guys!  LabRat (who just loves how we know people who know everything about anything on these mbs <G> You guys are better than Google any day! )
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
The Musketeers
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Posts: 3,644
Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,644 |
I was reading an article about this the other day... here's the link . The author's view seemed to be that in most cases, police, etc, will leave reporters alone, but there are times when they decide they need that information. And that reporters do *not* have the right to sheild someone from the law, and aren't supposed to promise that to anyone, because they can't always keep it. It's a fascinating article, I thought. PJ
"You told me you weren't like other men," she said, shaking her head at him when the storm of laughter had passed.
He grinned at her - a goofy, Clark Kent kind of a grin. "I have a gift for understatement."
"You can say that again," she told him.
"I have a...."
"Oh, shut up."
--Stardust, Caroline K
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