Effort to Shield Press Draws Conservatives' Support

In today's New York Times, Eric Lichtblau and Philip Shenon report on the prominence of political conservatives among advocates for shielding the press from the compelled disclosure of their sources. The article states:

An unusual cast of conservatives has added momentum to a bill that would protect the confidentiality of reporters’ sources, even as the Bush administration has lobbied vigorously against the idea.

The latest flashpoint in the debate came Friday in an appellate courtroom in Washington, as a former reporter for USA Today faced fines of $5,000 a day for refusing to disclose the sources of her articles on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2001 anthrax investigation.

A conservative judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Brett M. Kavanaugh, a former Bush White House official, offered perhaps the broadest defense of reporters’ rights during oral arguments in the case.

Judge Kavanaugh noted that “49 states have recognized some sort of common-law privilege” protecting the confidentiality of reporters’ relationships with their sources, and he questioned why lawyers for Toni Locy, the former USA Today reporter now facing a contempt citation, had not asserted that privilege more aggressively.

The appeals court hearing came three weeks after Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, joined both candidates for the Democratic nomination in backing a federal “shield law” offering some protection for the confidentiality of reporters’ sources. Mr. McCain cautioned that his support for the law was “narrow” because of his concerns about damaging national security leaks in the news media. But he said he would support legislation now pending in the Senate, despite the opposition of the White House.

A federal shield law passed the House last year by a veto-proof margin of 398 to 21, with a conservative Republican — Representative Mike Pence of Indiana — leading the effort.

“What’s a conservative like me doing passing a bill that helps reporters?” Mr. Pence asked in the House debate last year. The answer, he said, came from his belief that “the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press.”

JFB