Reporters behind bars

Thirty-two of the 50 states (plus one district) in the United States have source protection laws. Where there are no such laws, the corporate principle applies: a journalist must protect the source of information in any way, even if the court has ordered it to be disclosed. Failure to cooperate with the court can result in a three-month prison sentence. But cooperation with the court and violation of corporate ethics means for a reporter leaving journalism with an informal wolf ticket.

Litigation over the presentation of information to the court can last for years. But about 1,500 daily newspapers in the United States do not employ lawyers. The rights of these, as well as all other media, are protected by many public associations.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press specializes in protecting American journalists. The committee has a staff of 16 people, mostly lawyers. It is financed through contributions from the media, charitable foundations, and private donations. The committee's hotline operates 24 hours a day. Wherever an American journalist is, he can call and ask for help if he faces arrest or subpoena, mainly for libel or failure to report.

But the case of New York Times correspondent Judith Miller (see article on this page) is sensational: journalists in the United States are rarely imprisoned. For example, after the events of September 11, 2001, the police arrested several journalists for entering restricted areas of administrative buildings, but almost immediately released them.

In 1978, New York Times reporter Myron Farber served 40 days for refusing to cooperate with authorities in a hospital death case. In 2001, journalist Vanessa Leggett spent five months behind bars while covering a murder case.

In October 2004, Jim Taricani, an employee of one of the Rhode Island television stations, did not give up the person who gave him materials about corruption in the FBI, and was sentenced to six months in prison. True, he was under house arrest, and after four months he was released. In total, over the past 20 years, 18 journalists have been imprisoned in American prisons for refusing to disclose their sources.

There are also cases such as with a not very famous American reporter in 1999, when he illegally listened to and published a telephone conversation between actors Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise. But illegal wiretapping is a criminal offense. The reporter was arrested, but paid a fine and was then released.

Ivan SOLOVIEV