Anthrax Case: Judge Holds Reporter In Contempt
WASHINGTON — A federal judge held a former USA TODAY reporter in contempt of court on Tuesday for failing to identify sources who named former Army scientist Steven Hatfill as a possible suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said he would begin fining Toni Locy $500 per day, escalating to $5,000 per day, until she identifies the sources.
Hatfill’s lawyers asked that Locy — and not her former employer or others — be required to pay the fines.
The judge said he would consider postponing the penalty, however, to allow Locy and her lawyers to appeal the contempt ruling. Walton didn’t immediately decide whether Locy would be personally responsible for payment of the fines, if imposed.
At the same time, Walton delayed a decision on whether to hold former CBS reporter James Stewart in contempt for not disclosing sources for his reporting on the matter.
Hatfill, who was publicly identified in 2002 by then-attorney general John Ashcroft as a “person of interest” in the attacks, has never been charged. His lawyers have argued that news reports linking him to the federal investigation irreparably damaged his reputation.
“I don’t like to hold anyone in contempt,” Walton said. “I fully appreciate the importance of a free press. On the other hand, the media has to be responsible.”
“Toni Locy is being punished for doing what reporters are supposed to do: making sure important information gets to the public about whether the government had the investigation into a major public health threat under control,” Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said.
Dalglish also urged Congress to take up proposed legislation that would shield reporters from being forced to identify confidential sources.
“Toni Locy faces possible financial ruin for doing her job and doing it well,” Dalglish said.
Locy is one of five reporters Hatfill has subpoenaed to disclose government sources who identified him as a possible suspect.
Now a journalism professor at West Virginia University, Locy has argued that she spoke to a number of officials regarding the anthrax inquiry, but she cannot remember which sources provided information linking Hatfill to the government’s inquiry during her reporting for USA TODAY.
(USA Today)
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“Toni Locy is being punished for doing what reporters are supposed to do: making sure important information gets to the public about whether the government had the investigation into a major public health threat under control,…”
And the courts (suprisingly) are doing what they’re supposed to do; making sure journalists reporting on “a major public health threat are under control.” If not the courts, then who - obviously the editors didn’t do their job? Someone should be held responsible for the damage done to Hatfill. By all indications it was the journalist(s) that Nifonged this Army scientist.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:52 amYeah someone should pay dearly for the all out Jihad on Hatfill. unfortunately the court of public opinion in this country holds tons of weight. And when you indicate someones involvement in something so serious you had better have your shit straight
February 20th, 2008 at 11:41 amThese newspaper people need to know that giving out wrong info and ruining peoples’ lives aint happening. Anyone who has suffered from a whisper campaign knows this is true. Anyone who doesnt fall into that group is just one bad cop and one wrong reporter from being ruined.
April 15th, 2008 at 12:01 pm