If Gannon's not a reporter, does he have to reveal who leaked Plame memo?

[scottxyz]

A person who takes a two-day, $50 "journalism" course, works as the "Washington Bureau Chief" for "Talon News" which is actually just aa front organization for the GOPUSA, and who is credentialed under a fake name... such a person might not be deemed a reporter for the purposes of the law.

So Gannon might have to reveal who leaked the Plame memo to him.

via
http://www.haloscan.com/comments.php?user=atrios&comment=110806798926945032#2416360

(headline edited for clarity)

[davepc]

1. thats not a slippery slope anyone who respects confidential sources

should want to travel.

[ClintonTyree]

7. To a REAL Journalist, no.

To a fake Journalist like Guckert (gawd what a name, it sounds like some sort of disease; Guckert's Disease) the point becomes somewhat nebulous.

[davepc]

12. So now we have a journalism litmus test?

He A) had credentials and B) filed stories.

It's all fun to split hairs like this until somebody decides that since the precedent has already been set that its OK to turn around and use that reasoning against others.

Whats next? Lets say a blog writer gets some information and publishes it. Then they're pressed to reveal their source. The blog writer claims to be a journalist and thus has a legal leg to stand on to protect their source, but some lawyers are able to show that the blog writer doesn't meet the Guckert "journalism test". Then all the sudden their 1st amendment rights are stripped from them.

[rogue_bandit]

11. So what is a journalist?

I am not being cute. This is a real question.

Who is a journalist?
Anyone who writes a diary, even unpublished?
PR shills?
People writing under an assumed name?

And while we're at it: Anyone can get to be a White House journalist? They don't do real background checks? That man could have been a terrorist!

And while we're at it: That team of reporters who approve reporters for the White House job...they don't care if someone writes under an assumed name? Maybe some of them aren't who they say they are!

[DefenseLawyer]

13. But if the act of giving the information

is in fact a crime, should the person committing the crime expect confidentiality? And should a reporter not be required to give information about a crime that the reporter was not just told about but was actually a witness to?

[davepc]

20. I think the case law

goes to saying they should be compelled to reveal their source.

But "witness to a criminal act" is different then "not a real journalist".

[DefenseLawyer]

21. Agreed.

Of course if Guckert was a plant and a willing participant in the WH disinformation and propaganda machine, as opposed a reporter covering a story, it really blurs the line. Is it really a "source" if the "source" is paying you to put out the information?

[H2O Man]

23. Not true.

It's not a "slippery slope" at all. It is a well-established federal law that journalists in certain situations can be forced to testify in front of a grand jury. They is no reason to assume journalists have any protection greater than the average person.

What you are likely concerned about is the ability to protect whistle-blowers. That is the exact opposite set of circumstances than the Plame case, and there is no reason to confuse the two. Whistle-blowers are given legal protections, distinct from this case.

[ClintonTyree]

2. Yeah, just because you call yourself a reporter................

doesn't make you a reporter. It's like George Castanza on Seinfeld. He always tells people he's an architect, or a marine biologist. And it lands him in the shit every time. Just like Gannon/Guckert.

[rzemanfl]

3. Reporters go to jail for not revealing sources. When the jailbirds

see this guy in his tighty whiteys they are going to be ready for him. Let's find out "Gannon's" address and send him lots of K-Y.

[Betsy Ross]

8. Let's not send the KY! LOL

[rzemanfl]

19. I was thinking of the other prisoners' comfort, not his. n/t

[ClintonTyree]

9. He'd like it too much..............

NO K-Y FOR YOU!

[LostInAnomie]

4. I wonder if that was the point.

They could have purposely sent him to the two day journalism school so he could leak info damaging to those that oppose the BFEE and have his sources be protected.

A real journalist wouldn't risk their career for something as overtly spiteful as Plamegate.

[johnfunk]

5. Gannon is NOT a journalist...

... and I'd wager that a prosecutor with half a brain would easily be able to make this argument before a reasonably sane judge -- and, if necessary, put some questions to Gannon under oath that will cast doubt on his journalist bona fides.

[davepc]

10. He had White House Press credentials and worked in the press corps

and filed stories.

Journalists aren't licensed by the state like lawyers or doctors. You write a story and publish it and have a press credential from a reputable source, you're a journalist.

Just because he happens to be a piss poor excuse for one and a government stooge to boot dosen't mean we should rip down the 1st amendment protections for the press, because the consequences of doing that could have far reaching implications.

[johnfunk]

25. REEEEALLY? I don't see any of his "stories" outside...

... that rinky-dink Web site Talon "News," which could EASILY be demonstrated to be nothing more than a propaganda mill.

Oh... wait... this just in... Talon News has scrubbed all of his stories! Were he a real journalist, they'd be keeping his bylined bile up there and standing 100% behind it.

As Johnny Rotten said one night in Texas, at the end of the Sex Pistols' legendary 1977 tour of the US, "Ever feel like you've been cheeeated?"

... and this is NOT about "ripping down the first amendment." This is about White House security. This is about giving a seat at the gaggle -- one that should have gone to a major newspaper or broadcaster -- to a small propaganda outfit.

It's also about the White House manufacturing news. I'll bet Guckert's questions came straight from Rove, Libby and Little Snottie McCloying.

That is NOT journalism. That is NOT something covered by the First Amendment.

I say put Guckert in the dock, find out where he gets his questions, his ideas for "stories," his financial backing, and all of that inside information on Valerie Plame. Methinks a few questions would reveal Guckert as a party to treason.

[Ready4Change]

6. That's a very interesting take.

Not sure it will hold water, but it IS an interesting thought.

What exactly is the dividing line between a "reporter" who's right to protect his sources should be respected, and an average citizen who can be required to reveal information?

[Darknyte7]

14. This is a slippery slope folks...

Are there any established & recognized standards to adjudge who is and is not a journalist?

No doubt there are people out there that claim to be journalists, (like "Jeff Gannon") that just plain aren't. Nonetheless, this "Jeff Gannon" managed somehow to come up with a credential to get into the White House. That in an of itself seems to me to be prima facie evidence that he's a journalist.

[rzemanfl]

18. Please don't use the term "slippery slope" it reminds me of

James Baker and I just ate.

[robertpaulsen]

15. Doesn't matter if he's a reporter or not, legally he HAS to reveal it.

For clarification, this is what John Dean had to say about it in the LA Times:

Finally, if the confidential information relates to criminal activity, the U.S. Supreme Court said in 1972 (in Branzburg vs. Hayes) that should a grand jury investigating the crime need the information, the journalist must turn it over — despite the freedom of the press guaranteed under the 1st Amendment.

No reporter can enter into an agreement that violates that law. Rather, an agreement of confidentiality is subject to it. The so-called news person's privilege, just like the attorney-client privilege or a president's executive privilege, is a qualified privilege. When a judge holds a reporter in contempt for violating the law, that judge is merely upholding the law of the land.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-sources6feb06,0,6080347.story?coll=la-sunday-commentary

In other words, Fitzgerald can hand Gannon's ass back to him in a handbag, the law is on Fitzgerald's side!

[CindyDale]

16. If he was paid to leak info and propagandize

then I don't think a judge would consider him a reporter, but who knows? It depends on the judge.

[hector459]

17. If he is not a reporter, what the hell was he doing with access to confide

confidential information about a CIA undercover agent?

[H2O Man]

24. It makes no difference

if he is a journalist or not. The constitutional protections that are recognized by decade upon decade of case law are related to "whistle-blowers." These are people like "Deep Throat," who reveal information about criminal activity within the bowels of government.

The Plame case is the exact opposite. It is the government with the cooperation of a journalist breaking a federal law. Federal cases have determined that in these cases, a journalist can be forced to testify in front of a grand jury investigating the crime.

This fellow's status -- or lack thereof -- is not an issue. Not at all.

[s-cubed]

22. There was an interesting case a few years back of a woman

who was working on a book for years, and claimed journalistic privileges re
her sources. I think she hadn't published yet, but was doing intensive research. Never heard the outcome of it.