By Tony Mauro, From The National Law Journal

Most of the U.S. journalists who have gone to jail for protecting confidential sources gathered in Washington this week to tell their stories and to advocate for a federal shield law.

“We need good, solid newsgathering and we need the government to back off and let us do our job,” said Brian Karem, a Maryland newspaper editor who was jailed four times in Texas for refusing to name his source in a murder investigation 25 years ago.

For journalists covering national security, “If you don’t have confidential sources, you don’t have a story,” said Judith Miller, the former New York Times reporter who spent 85 days in jail in 2005 for refusing to name her confidential source before a grand jury in the Valerie Plame investigation. Miller called for passage of a strong shield law and for “greater solidarity” among reporters.

The unprecedented reunion Monday night of formerly jailed journalists at the National Press Club was timed for the beginning of International Whistleblowing Week and to jump-start a renewed effort for passage by Congress of a law that would protect journalists from having to reveal confidential sources to government officials in certain circumstances.

Forty-nine states and the District of Columbia have such laws, but bills introduced in Congress have faltered. Opponents say a federal shield law would give journalists more protection than they deserve when their information is needed to prosecute serious crimes. Critics also say that in the new media environment, it is difficult to craft a definition of the journalists who should be protected.

The 10 journalists swapped stories about awful prison food and how government officials asserted that they protected sources for personal or monetary gain.

Blogger Josh Wolf said he developed serious ailments during his more than seven months in prison in 2006 for refusing to turn over video footage of a protest at a G-8 conference in San Francisco. Based on his experience, Wolf said, a “robust” shield law is needed, “not just a cookie cutter for what the government wants.”

“They were the longest three days of my life,” said Libby Averyt, a Texas journalist who refused to turn over notes from an interview with death row inmate. She said that if readers saw her as an extension of law enforcement, her ability to gather news would be hampered.

Ohio journalist Lisa Abraham agreed: “I don’t feel it is proper for the media to be an arm of the prosecutor.” Abraham was jailed for 22 days for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating a county official on corruption charges. “Prosecutors come to us first because they value the information we have.”

Another theme of the discussion was the failure by the Obama administration to live up to its promise of being the most transparent presidency in history.

“This is by far the worst White House I have ever seen,” said Karem, whose reporting career goes back to the Reagan administration.

“Under the Obama administration, it has been tougher covering national security than any other administration, ever, ever, ever,” Miller said. She has written a new book about her career and the controversy over her reporting during the prelude to the Iraq war.

(Note: The author of this report is a member of the steering committee of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which co-sponsored the event.)

IMAGE: iStock

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