Revelvant to Novakgate?: Court Orders Journos to Reveal Wen Ho Lee Sources

[BurtWorm]

http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-na-wenholee15oct15.story

THE NATION
Journalists Ordered to Give Sources to Scientist
Judge's decision is part of the nuclear expert's suit over leaks and could play into CIA furor.


By Richard B. Schmitt, Times Staff Writer


WASHINGTON — A federal judge has ordered five journalists, including a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, to identify government sources for their articles about former nuclear weapons scientist Wen Ho Lee.

Lee is suing the government, alleging that officials illegally divulged private information about him in the course of investigating his role in suspected espionage at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico four years ago.

If upheld on appeal, the decision by U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson could also play into the furor surrounding allegations that the Bush administration leaked the name of a CIA operative to journalists to retaliate against her husband, a critic of the administration's Iraq policy.

The CIA employee and her husband, former State Department envoy Joseph C. Wilson IV, are considering legal action against the government, alleging that the leak invaded their privacy and caused emotional and other distress.

[sonias]

1. Wow interesting case

I just hope we don't have to wait as long as Wen Ho Lee and his family to get to the bottom of the Wilson/Plame leak.

I generally think that journalists should be protected against revealing their sources but in both cases, Lee and Plame, the leakers were just trying to discredit or blame these people for crimes they did not commit. I don't think a journalist should have to protect the identity of someone who purposefully planted bad info and caused harm to innocent people in the process.

Sonia

[BurtWorm]

2. The First Amendment should not be used as an excuse

to protect the government's incompetence or maliciousness. It's not there to protect the government in the first place. I wrote an article for DU on this very subject a couple of weeks ago, so it's something I care about. It bugs me to hear journalists not getting the First Amendment.

[BurtWorm]

3. I can't believe I misspelled relevant in the header.

Revelvant?!