WASHINGTON -Unfavorable court rulings have the news media facing their most serious challenge in more than three decades over protecting the identities of confidential sources.
The latest defeat came last week when a federal appeals court in Washington declined to reconsider a three-judge panel's ruling compelling Time magazine's Matthew Cooper and The New York Times' Judith Miller to testify before a federal grand jury about their sources or go to jail for up to 18 months.
The two reporters have been called to testify about the leak of an undercover CIA's officer's name.
News organizations are appealing a federal judge's decision finding five reporters in contempt for refusing to identify their sources for stories about nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee. Appeals court arguments are scheduled for May 9.
The judge says the information from the reporters is needed so that Lee, who was wrongly suspected of spying, can pursue his privacy lawsuit against government officials.
Last year, Providence, R.I., TV reporter Jim Taricani was sentenced to home confinement after he refused a court order to reveal the confidential source of an undercover FBI videotape of an alleged bribe. He served four months.
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