JonInMiddleGA
08-19-2004, 08:07 AM
Okay, I already know there's a good chance I'm gonna regret even bringing this up here, but sometimes things are just too "Hmmm..." to pass up.
Here's the story
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20040819/D84I6EOG0.html
Okay, if you haven't seen it, the headline gives the gist of the story:
A judge's decision to punish five reporters for refusing to identify their sources for stories about nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee threatens to chill vital newsgathering at a time of increased government secrecy, advocates say.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson on Wednesday held the reporters in contempt and fined each of them $500 a day until they reveal their source. He said the information was needed for Lee, a former nuclear weapons scientist once suspected of spying, to litigate his privacy lawsuit against government officials.
Now here's where I go "Huh? Say what?"
""The threat to First Amendment rights that's going on this summer is unprecedented," Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press, said. ... "All this has to do with secrecy. The government is trying to keep more and more secrets all the time, and journalists are working harder to uncover those secrets. Given the terrorism climate, all this has come to a head," she said."
Now let me get this straight ... governmental agencies allegedly leaked info to the media, that's what Lee is claiming at least. A federal judge (who is apparently the Microsoft anti-trust case judge btw) orders the reporters to reveal their government sources.
And yet somehow this woman says this is about "the government trying to keep more and more secrets".
Umm ... hey dingdong, the "government" is arguing the same side of this you are. It's "the court" who is trying to make you reveal sources.
I swear, I'm becoming more & more reluctant to admit I was ever a journalist, it seems that along with the demise of ethics and good judgement in the profession, that common sense is becoming an endangered species as well.
Here's the story
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20040819/D84I6EOG0.html
Okay, if you haven't seen it, the headline gives the gist of the story:
A judge's decision to punish five reporters for refusing to identify their sources for stories about nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee threatens to chill vital newsgathering at a time of increased government secrecy, advocates say.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson on Wednesday held the reporters in contempt and fined each of them $500 a day until they reveal their source. He said the information was needed for Lee, a former nuclear weapons scientist once suspected of spying, to litigate his privacy lawsuit against government officials.
Now here's where I go "Huh? Say what?"
""The threat to First Amendment rights that's going on this summer is unprecedented," Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press, said. ... "All this has to do with secrecy. The government is trying to keep more and more secrets all the time, and journalists are working harder to uncover those secrets. Given the terrorism climate, all this has come to a head," she said."
Now let me get this straight ... governmental agencies allegedly leaked info to the media, that's what Lee is claiming at least. A federal judge (who is apparently the Microsoft anti-trust case judge btw) orders the reporters to reveal their government sources.
And yet somehow this woman says this is about "the government trying to keep more and more secrets".
Umm ... hey dingdong, the "government" is arguing the same side of this you are. It's "the court" who is trying to make you reveal sources.
I swear, I'm becoming more & more reluctant to admit I was ever a journalist, it seems that along with the demise of ethics and good judgement in the profession, that common sense is becoming an endangered species as well.