Senate hearing re federal shield law for journalists
Senate to hold hearing on bill to protect reporters who keep secret sources
By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer
July 7, 2005, 2:23 AM EDT
WASHINGTON -- The Senate Judiciary Committee could be the next stop for the those involved in the federal probe into who exposed undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame as it weighs a bill that would protect reporters who refuse to identify their sources.
Those called to testify could include the media outlets and the prosecutor in the case, in which New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed Wednesday. Plame's identity was first revealed publicly in a column by Robert Novak.
"If they would be interested in coming to testify, I think it would be informative and possibly useful," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a former Texas Supreme Court judge and state attorney general.
Despite a pending Supreme Court nomination, Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., has said the media shield bill _ sponsored by Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind. _ is one of several he expects to come before his committee this month. A spokesman said Wednesday the hearing is tentatively set for July 20 and that a witness list still is being worked out with Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the panel's top Democrat.
Cornyn said Specter and Leahy would want testimony from those "in the best position to know about all sides of the issue."
The American Society of Newspaper Editors' board of directors voted on Wednesday to endorse the idea of a national shield law for reporters to protect them from having to reveal the names of their confidential sources.
A Time magazine reporter who barely escaped being sent to jail Wednesday said the grand jury probe into who leaked Plame's identity makes the case for such a law.
"I think this clearly points out the need for some kind of a national shield law. There is no federal shield law and that is why we find ourselves here today," said Time's Matthew Cooper.
He spoke as Miller was jailed for refusing to tell U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald who leaked Plame's name to her.
The bill, sponsored in the House by Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., would require prosecutors and judges to meet strict national standards and exhaust other remedies before they could subpoena reporters. No hearings are scheduled in the House.
Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia have such "shield" laws, but there is no set of standards that applies in the federal courts.
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