Confidentiality and News Gathering
Letters to the Editor
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036
June 30, 2005
To the Editor:
This week's court decision allowing reporters
to be held in contempt for refusing to divulge
anonymous sources (editorial, June 28) underscores
the need for Congress to pass a federal shield
law.
Confidential sources are essential to news gathering.
From the colonial-era press that protected the
anonymity of critics of the British government,
to the Associated Press reporter who refused to
divulge to Congress the sources for his reporting
on Civil War blunders, to the Wall Street Journal
reporters who unveiled the scandal at Enron, our
democracy has needed a free and independent press.
A fully functioning press cannot exist if reporters
cannot protect their confidential sources.
In a report issued by the New York City Bar Association
last fall, we maintained that the arguments favoring
a federal common law privilege are overwhelming.
Virtually all states currently provide, as a matter
of state law, legal protection for reporters to
preserve the confidentiality of their sources.
Throughout our history, our government has respected
reporters' need to maintain confidences, absent
extraordinary circumstances. It is essential that
Congress act now to preserve this principle. The
failure to do so can only damage our democracy.
BETTINA B. PLEVAN
President, Association of the Bar
of the City of New York
