DURHAM, NC (March 11, 2008) - The National Press Photographers Association today joined in with a coalition of more than 50 other media groups urging Senate leaders to take quick action to pass a federal media shield law after a federal judge has ordered a former journalist to pay unprecedented personal fines for refusing to reveal her sources in a civil suit.
The letters from the media coalition will be hand-delivered to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and others on Capitol Hill this afternoon.
Over the weekend a federal judge issued a decision that could bankrupt former USA Today reporter Toni Locy, who is now a university journalism professor in West Virginia. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ordered Locy to personally pay fines up to $5,000 per day until her next court appearance in April, and prohibited her former newspaper employer, or anyone, from reimbursing her.
"All around the nation, this ruling sends a chilling message to journalists, whistleblowers and other confidential sources," today's letter to the Senate says. "On behalf of the men and women across the country who work to bring the American people vital news and information, we, the undersigned media companies and organizations, urge the Senate to send a different message."
During a privacy lawsuit filed against the federal government by Steven Hatfill, Locy has refused to reveal the confidential sources she used for USA Today stories she wrote during the government investigation that followed a series of anthrax attacks in 2001. Hatfill, a former U.S. Army bioweapons scientist, was labeled by the government as a "person of interest" during the investigation, and his suit seeks to find out who revealed that accusation to Locy.
Without a federal shield law to protect journalists, unprecedented fines or imprisonment are weapons a judge can use in order to try to force a reporter to name names. The media coalition calling for a federal shield law says that Judge Walton's efforts to bankrupt Locy illustrates the urgent need for legislation which has been titled the "Free Flow Of Information Act" (S. 2035).
The Free Flow of Information Act will protect confidential sources by establishing a uniform standard for obtaining information from reporters in federal court proceedings. Both versions of the legislation have been amended to ensure that national security also is protected.
"The chilling order issued by the federal court in Locy’s case, unfortunately, reflects a growing trend by the federal government and civil litigants to coerce journalists to reveal their sources," the letter says. "More than 40 reporters and media organizations have been subpoenaed or questioned about their confidential sources, their notes, and their work product in criminal and civil cases in federal court over the last few years. It is this trend that threatens the integrity of investigative journalism and underscores the need for a federal shield law."
Senators are being urged to take "immediate and favorable" action on the Senate floor to pass the shield law, with the coalition saying that the legislation is "vitally important to the national interest and an informed citizenry."
In the joint statement, the coalition of media companies said that news organizations prefer to have their sources on the record whenever possible. “However, history is replete with examples of news articles critical to the national interest that would never have been written had it not been for the protection of confidential sources.”
An Adobe Acrobat .PDF copy of the letter the media coalition sent to Senate leaders today is available here.
The Free Flow Of Information Act, which was favorably reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 15-4 vote, has since been stalled in the Senate. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-PA) sent a letter to party leaders last week urging Senate action on the legislation, noting its bipartisan majority support in the House and Senate Judiciary Committee. The House passed a similar shield bill (H.R. 2102) by a 398-21 vote. Both versions of the Free Flow of Information Act are available for immediate floor action.
"I believe that the effect of the judicial activism by Judge Walton in the Locy case, and U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in the recent Wikileaks domain name case, is quite chilling on free speech," NPPA general legal counsel Mickey H. Osterreicher said today from Buffalo, NY.
"Fortunately Judge White had the good sense to reverse his injunction disabling the Wikileaks.org Web domain. But imposing these oppressive economic fines against Locy with no recourse as to their payment is no less an act of overreaching the bounds of First Amendment jurisprudence. NPPA, along with a large number of other media organizations, strongly opposes these actions."
"I cannot stress how important it is for NPPA members to contact their Senators and urge passage of the Free Flow of Information Act," Osterreicher said.
