WASHINGTON — News reporters do not have a 1st Amendment right to refuse to testify about their conversations with government officials, a three-judge panel of a U.S. appeals court said Tuesday, upholding a judge's order that could put reporters from Time magazine and the New York Times in jail.
The decision by the panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the most recent to threaten reporters with imprisonment, seems likely to accelerate congressional efforts to pass a "shield" law allowing reporters to keep the identities of their sources secret.
Matthew Cooper of Time and Judith Miller of the New York Times face contempt of court charges for refusing to tell prosecutors about their confidential talks with officials in the Bush White House who revealed the identity of a CIA operative in 2003.
The appeals court panel, in a 3-0 ruling, held that the constitutional protection of freedom of the press does not give reporters an "exemption from an ordinary duty of all citizens to furnish relevant information to a grand jury."
Floyd Abrams, the attorney for both reporters, said he would ask the full appeals court to reverse Tuesday's ruling. He previously has said the reporters would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
Press advocates said that they could not remember a time in the last 30 years when so many journalists have faced court orders and the threat of jail -- in cases including the Major League Baseball steroid scandal, the investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks and a City Hall corruption case in Providence, R.I.
The cases appear to be creating unusual solidarity among the media and some Washington lawmakers on the need for a law to protect journalists.
Members of the House and Senate recently introduced identical measures that would give reporters absolute protection against the forced disclosure of confidential news sources. After three decades of halting discussion about such a privilege -- dating back to the Watergate era -- the legislation has won initial support across the ideological spectrum.
"I think the issue surrounding freedom of the press transcends arguments over the ideology or the competence of present-day media," said Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), co-sponsor of the legislation and chairman of the House's conservative Republican Study Committee. "Americans love to hate journalists almost as much as they love to hate politicians. But we are united in our understanding that a free and independent press is central to the survival of liberty."
