Reporter's Privilege OK'd in Tripp Case

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- A reporter for the military's Stars and Stripes newspaper does not have to reveal the government sources who leaked information about Linda Tripp's application for a new job with the Defense Department, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said the writer, Sandra Jontz, can invoke the reporter's privilege to shield her from revealing confidential information in court, despite the fact that the newspaper is owned and controlled by the Defense Department.

Tripp, whose secret tapes of conversations with Monica Lewinsky helped lead to President Clinton's impeachment trial, sued the Pentagon in January 2001, alleging officials there illegally leaked to Stars and Stripes that she was interviewing for a job at the George Marshall Center in Germany.

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Tripp claimed she was humiliated by publication of the fact that she was looking for a job below her grade level and alleged that the Defense Department violated her privacy by releasing the information to Jontz. Tripp did not get the job.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-tripp-lawsuit,0,4870900.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines