Howard
Kurtz, writing for FoxNews.com
reports on a Fox News reporter who
faces jail time for refusing to disclose a confidential source. This source
gave Jana Winter (the Fox News
reporter) information about the Aurora, Colorado movie-theater shooting a year
ago. The source told Winter about a notebook that James Holmes (the gunman) had
sent to his Psychiatrist before the mass murder. The notebook was said to have
“drawings and illustrations of the massacre…gun-wielding stick figures blowing
away other stick figures.” Winter is being asked to make known her source
because Holmes believes that the person giving Winter the information broke a
law concerning “pretrial publicity.” Kurtz goes on to say that, though Holmes
has a right to make this request, the issue has “nothing to do with his
[Holmes] guilt or innocence in the murder trial.” Kurtz states that the
“ultimate character test for journalists,” is whether they reveal their
confidential sources, or go to jail.
When
a journalist makes known his/her confidential source, she, in the words of the
article, “would basically be washed up as a journalist.” Winter’s lawyer said
that, already, sources are reluctant to talk to her. This means that her entire
career as a journalist is at stake. The freedom of the press as part of the
first amendment rights also grants journalists the right to conceal their
sources. However, a journalist/reporter must give their source if it pertains
to solving a criminal/civil trial in court. This is yet another example of an
issue that has found a gray area between legality and common sense. Though it
is technically correct that Winter must give her source because it could be a
violation of a certain legal statute, common sense tells us that this is a
trivial “side issue” does nothing to affect Holmes’ guilt or innocence in the
murder trial. The article goes on to say that 36 different media organizations
are standing behind Winter in this case. Common sense and the righteous morals
definitely outweigh the legal technicality.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/11/11/fox-reporter-faces-jail-for-reporting-on-murder-case/
Tyra Harris, 5th period
ReplyDeleteI, too, side with journalist. Because disclosing the source of the journal to the general public does not deal with the question of quilt or innocence, the journalist shouldn't be sued. Like you said, the 1st amendment protects the rights of the journalist. It just seems as if Holmes is trying to reduce the negative publicity of his horrific crimes and play Winter's victim.