At what price Time's reversal?
Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper probably won't be going to jail next week over l'affaire Plame–but at what price?
Cooper's employer, Time Inc., agreed Thursday to obey a court order to turn over to a grand jury information related to the Cooper's contact with a confidential source for a story about CIA operative Valerie Plame. The decision may help the company avoid potentially heavy court-imposed fines and keep Cooper free, but it further muddies the murky issue of the constitutionally protected status of newsgatherers and their relationship with their sources.
Press advocates are calling Time's capitulation, which Cooper did not support, highly unusual–several said they couldn't recall a similar high-profile instance in modern press history. Coupled with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision Monday not to review the contempt cases against Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller [Jail time likely for journalists (6/27/05)], the company's move is another blow to reporters' ability to protect sources. New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. expressed deep disappointment in Time Inc.'s decision and pledged to support Miller, who continues to refuse to reveal her sources.
Cooper and Miller, who gathered information but never wrote about Plame, were expected to be sentenced to jail for contempt Wednesday for refusing to reveal their sources. They were targeted as part of an investigation into who in the Bush administration leaked then covert operative Plame's name to the press–most notably to syndicated columnist Robert Novak, who first publicly outed Plame. Novak, who has refused to say whether he's been questioned by the grand jury, has not been charged with contempt. Miller, who never wrote a word, is the only reporter now left facing a jail sentence next week.
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