Source Protection

The European Federation of Journalist (EFJ) has protested against proposals for the draft legislation in Finland which would compel journalists to reveal their sources in certain criminal cases. "This bill is unbelievable. Protection of sources is a cornerstone of independent journalism and the free flow of information. Journalists have to be certain that media freedom is secured and journalists'...

The Northern Ireland police are trying to obtain a court order in Belfast that would force Suzanne Breen, the Belfast editor of the Dublin-based Sunday Tribune newspaper, to hand over all her source material about the Real IRA, an Irish Republican Army splinter group. “Journalists are neither police auxiliaries nor criminals,” Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “The confidentiality...

A Czech court has upheld a fine against reporter Sabina Slonkova for refusing to disclose the names of confidential sources to the state prosecutor. The case dates to February 2008, when online news portal Aktualne.cz posted video surveillance footage taken at Prague’s Hotel Savoy and leaked to Slonkova. The footage shows a clandestine meeting shortly before last year’s Czech presidential election...

A Liberian journalist who testified against ex-President Charles Taylor should not be forced to reveal a confidential source, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said. The journalist, Hassan Bility, testified on January 14 about a 1997 reporting trip to Sierra Leone in which he documented alleged ties between Liberian government troops and Sierra Leonean rebels. Liberia's ex-President Charles...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned a proposed criminal law amendment before Czech Republic parliament that would ban the media from publishing the contents of police telephone taps or any information about the tapping of phones by the police. The proposed amendment provides for sentences of one to five years in prison and fines up to 5 million crowns (182,000 euros) for violators. “In...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has welcomed the decision of Belgian prosecutors to dismiss a complaint of bribery brought by the European Anti-Fraud Office against a Brussels-based journalist. After five years Belgium has finally cleared journalist Hans-Martin Tillack, a reporter for Stern magazine, over a complaint against him launched from within the European Union (EU) hierarchy....

A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter seeking to protect the identity of unidentified sources is asking two judges to stop a deposition intended to reveal who leaked information to him about the investigation of a prosecutor, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. Some details from the AP report: David Ashenfelter of the Detroit Free Press is scheduled to give testimony in a deposition Thursday. A...

Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez called for a criminal investigation of Daniel Coronell on Thursday, alleging that the journalist broke the law by not immediately disclosing a videotaped interview that allegedly links the administration to a bribery scandal. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged Colombian authorities to dismiss Uribe's request. On Thursday...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has urged the FBI to release more information about the procedures they used in 2004 to obtain reporters' telephone records while they were stationed at the New York Times and the Washington Post bureaus in Indonesia. Paris-based RSF welcomed Thursday the apology the FBI made to the newspapers' editors for improperly using the so-called "exigent letters" to obtain...

The US government's attempts to flout news-gathering privilege hit another road-block on August 11 when a court denied its request to block an amicus curiae brief signed by numerous news organisations in support of CBS in its effort to quash a government subpoena. The case concerns an interview with US Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich by Scott Pelley, aired on March 18, 2007 on "60 Minutes". Wuterich...