U.S. Reporters to Defy Order to Disclose Sources (Wen Ho Lee Case)

[Khephra]

U.S. Reporters to Defy Order to Disclose Sources
Wed January 7, 2004 11:31 AM ET

By Caroline Drees, Security Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amid concerns that journalists' rights may be under attack, the first of three reporters from major U.S. media outlets will defy on Wednesday an order by a federal judge to disclose their sources in an unfounded espionage case, their lawyers said.

Journalists from The Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times and a former CNN reporter have been subpoenaed by Wen Ho Lee, a scientist once suspected of spying.

Lee, who was never charged with espionage, has filed a lawsuit against the government, accusing officials of violating his privacy by leaking personal employment records to reporters.

Lawyers for the AP's Josef Hebert, the LA Times' Robert Drogin and former CNN reporter Pierre Thomas told Reuters their clients would "honor their commitments to their sources" in their depositions, which come less than a month after two New York Times reporters defied an order in the same case by U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson to disclose the sources.

more.............

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=T5UKWG2U5ZXZCCRBAE0CFEY?type=topNews&storyID=4087871

[J B]

1. I thought reporters were supposed to counteract government abuse

Not assist it.