There are no bars in the 70-square-foot cell that Judith Miller, the New York Times reporter, is expected to call home for the next four months or so, as she serves her contempt-of-court sentence in the Alexandria Detention Center in Virginia. But though the jail has a reputation among lawyers and corrections officials as a relatively progressive institution, Ms. Miller indicated to her lawyers...
This is a proud but awful moment for The New York Times and its employees. One of our reporters, Judith Miller, has decided to accept a jail sentence rather than testify before a grand jury about one of her confidential sources. Ms. Miller has taken a path that will be lonely and painful for her and her family and friends. We wish she did not have to choose it, but we are certain she did the right...
For anyone observing the Indian media scene these are strange and contradictory times. On the one hand, there appears to be a boom underway. Two new 24-hour news channels are being launched in addition to the several already on air. Three new English language dailies will soon be vying for the attention of the Mumbaikar. Media houses are allocating massive budgets for publicity and market research...
Republican Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, who is usually a reliable conservative, is promoting a "federal shield law" for reporters. It has gotten some publicity in the wake of attempts by a Special Counsel to force reporters Matt Cooper of Time magazine and Judith Miller of the New York Times to reveal their "confidential" and anonymous sources in the case of CIA operative Valerie Plame, whose...
How many of us, when reading the morning newspaper, have to think about the accuracy of the news printed in it? Not in passing but really think about it. Now India's largest publishing group, Bennett, Coleman & Co. has its readers doing just that by launching a new category called "edvotorial." Or simply put – paid news. Last year the group launched a business division called Medianet. It...
CHICAGO (AP) – A federal appeals court dismissed a lawsuit filed by former collegiate journalists who said their First Amendment rights were violated when the dean of student affairs insisted on reviewing the paper before publication. In a 7-4 decision June 20, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Patricia Carter, Governors State University's dean of student affairs, should not be liable for...
The International Federation of Journalists today accused Time-Warner, one of the world’s largest media corporations of a "profound betrayal" of principle over its decision to publicly defy its reporter’s wishes and hand over his notebook to avoid heavy fines in a court action over protection of sources. Matthew Cooper, a reporter for Time magazine was ready to go to jail for refusing to name a...
Washington, June 30, 2005–Restrictive regimes around the world came out ahead. Many were already taking a cue from a U.S. case involving the leak of a CIA officer's name when the Supreme Court announced this week that it would not hear an appeal by two journalists. The reporters, Matthew Cooper of Time magazine and Judith Miller of The New York Times, face 18-month jail terms for not revealing...
Reporters Without Borders denounces the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decision, on 28 June 2005, to uphold civil contempt of court findings against four journalists who refuse to reveal their sources for stories about former nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee. « This is the second ruling of this kind in two days" the worldwide press freedom organization said, referring to...
NEW YORK – It's been more than 30 years since Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein broke the Watergate scandal that brought down an American president. Many media analysts say a story like Watergate, in which the two enterprising Washington Post reports relied on "Deep Throat" as an essential source, likely couldn't be broken in the same way nowadays because many news outlets have reined in the use of...
