Comments on all things journalism and answers to questions from readers about news coverage and operations at the Tracy Press.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Journalists protest pressure to reveal sources

Journalist groups on Saturday protested the jailing of a video journalist and other recent federal court rulings pressuring media workers to divulge information to the government.

From the Associated Press:
The news media becomes an information-gathering arm of law enforcement when journalists are ordered to give up confidential sources or unpublished material, said Tony Overman, president of the National Press Photographers Association.

"When news sources believe that statements or actions observed or reported by journalists find their way into the hands of police or prosecutors, those sources will be less willing -- or flat-out afraid -- to cooperate with the media," Overman said at the press conference in San Francisco.

The photographers association and the Society of Professional Journalists announced they would help pay for the legal defense of freelance video journalist Joshua Wolf.

A federal judge in San Francisco ordered Wolf jailed this week for refusing to hand over unaired video shot during a July 2005 protest in which a police car was vandalized and an officer was injured.

Wolf's defense lawyer, Jose Luis Fuentes, said jail officials blocked him from seeing his client until Saturday, five days after his incarceration, and that Wolf remains steadfast in refusing to surrender the footage.

"It smells and appears to be punishment, which is not what the civil contempt order is about -- it's about coercion," he said. "If he can't make phone calls to his mother or have visits from his mother, and he is denied visits from his attorney, it would seem that's all punishment."

Posted by cmatthews at August 6, 2006 08:39 AM

Comments

The question of reavaling sources is an interesting one. In terms of investigative reporting, it is crucial to the ability of the press to function that they are able to protect the anonymity of their sources.

However, when it comes to the realm of political opinion, the press has no responsibility. For instance, the recent attack letter by Nicholas Villagomez could easily have been identified as coming from a field representative of Greg Aghazarian. That was clearly a hit piece planted by Carl Fogliani, a political campaign consultant whose work is shared by Richard Pombo and Aghazarian. Including that simple statement would have changed the meaning of the entire letter and Mr. Villagomez chose to hide that fact.

Cheri, this campaign is going to get very dirty. This is only an early skirmish. I find it interesting that Pombo, Fogliani and Wayne Johnson seem to fear McCloskey more than they do McNerney. Pete gave them trouble in the primary, forcing them to born a lot of money. He is still giving them trouble. You should think about the fact that there might be a connection between the issues that Pete is focusing on, corruption and the Marianas, and the scope of the effort that they making to discredit him. If there is nothing to that story, as Fogliani continues to parrot, then why are they making such a fuss?

Posted by: Wes Rolley at August 11, 2006 08:46 AM

Wes, I looked at the Marianas issue and found that the dots, timelines, and everything else really didn't line up to implicate Pombo in anything unethical. The allegations of corruption just haven't led anywhere either. We found that relative to other members of congress, like Dem. Rep. Miller who carried out far more extravagant travels with family members during approximately the same time period, Pombo's decision to rent an RV and along with his family go on a tour of parks he oversees seemed pretty low key. All of it was approved by those in Congress overseeing these types of activities. If there is a problem with it, then Congress should amend its rules. For Miller, McCloskey and other's to make this their case that Pombo is corrupt is pretty lame. If they can't do better than that, they have nothing. I'm not sure why Pombo's camp is over reacting to it, but the game of politics is never easy to explain, and all tactics that political consultants like Wayne Johnson seem to do is reinforce the cynicism that causes people to not participate in the voting process.

Posted by: Bob Matthews at September 27, 2006 08:49 AM

test

Posted by: test at October 1, 2006 03:53 PM

Curious what the Tracy Press is doing to help get rid of Pombo. With wind energy (not to mention a lack of corruption) an obvious boon to the local economy, perhaps McNerney's connections can be of use to us? Will you officially endorse him? Or at the very least, ignore Pombo's publicity machine?

Thanks!

Posted by: Dave Rayster at October 9, 2006 04:00 PM