WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge held five reporters in contempt Wednesday for refusing to identify their sources for stories about Wen Ho Lee, a former nuclear weapons scientist once suspected of spying.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson imposed a fine of $500 a day for Associated Press reporter H. Josef Hebert; James Risen and Jeff Gerth of The New York Times; Robert Drogin of the Los Angeles Times; and Pierre Thomas of ABC, who was at CNN when the stories were done.
Jackson said the fines would be delayed pending appeals. Nathan Siegel, the AP's lawyer, said the news cooperative would appeal.
The reporters contend they provided all the relevant information they could without defying a commitment to protect their sources.
Lee is seeking the identity of the sources for his lawsuit against the departments of Energy and Justice. He alleges the agencies gave reporters private information on him and suggested he was a suspect in an investigation into possible theft of secrets from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
All but one of 59 counts against Lee eventually were dismissed and then-President Clinton apologized for Lee's treatment.
In his order, Jackson rejected the reporters' arguments that Lee could obtain the information he seeks elsewhere. He said he was holding the five in contempt because they violated his explicit order.
"The journalists declined to reveal their confidential sources," Jackson said.
Hebert, a 34-year AP veteran, said he was disappointed by Jackson's ruling.
"I believe strongly that when a reporter gives a source the assurance that his or her confidentiality will be protected, he cannot go back on his word," Hebert said. "To do so would be a disservice to the source, destroy the reporter's credibility with future sources and hinder essential newsgathering."
Stuart Wilk, vice president and associate editor of The Dallas Morning News and president of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association said: "Reporters' ability to quote sources anonymously is a fundamental and crucial tool in getting important information to the public. Courts have held repeatedly that journalists can protect their sources. APME would hope that that principle ultimately will prevail."
During the hearing, Lee's lawyer, Brian Sun, said learning the identities of the journalists' sources was critical to pursuing Lee's privacy action against government officials.
"Although the journalists would posit this as a battle of the First Amendment, we would submit it's not just that," Sun said. "It's undisputed that classified information was leaked and government officials acknowledged there were leaks. (Lee) is being deprived of crucial information."
Last week, a federal judge held a Time magazine reporter in contempt for failing to reveal sources in a grand jury investigation into the leak of an undercover CIA officer's identify last year. Prosecutors have subpoenaed at least four other journalists, and the reporter held in contempt, Matthew Cooper, is appealing.
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On the Net:
Text of the contempt ruling is available at:
http://wid.ap.org/documents/courts/040818contempt.pdf
