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PEN USA Executive Committee Responds to Conviction of Rhode Island Journalist
December 09, 2004
Please see Rhode Island: Reporter Held in Contempt for Refusing to Reveal Source for background about Taricani’s case.
Story Continued...
November 29, 2004
Chief Judge Ernest C. Torres
United States District Court
District of Rhode Island
One Exchange Terrace
Federal Building and Courthouse
Providence, RI 02903
Your Honor,
The Executive Committee of PEN USA, part of a worldwide writer’s organization with an 83-year history of defending freedom of expression through the written word, is deeply concerned about the recent conviction and sentencing awaiting Jim Taricani, a journalist facing up to six months in prison.
As the Court is aware, Mr. Taricani is a reporter for WJAR-TV (NBC) who received a tape of former Mayor Vincent Cianci Jr. appearing to accept a bribe. Mr. Cianci was convicted in 2002 of racketeering and is serving a five-year sentence. Mr. Taricani is facing incarceration because he is protecting the identity of the source who gave him the FBI videotape.
While PEN USA recognizes the importance of the court order broken by the person who “leaked” the tape, we emphasize that Mr. Taricani violated no law, committed no crime, and is exercising his constitutional right to protect his sources. The First Amendment makes it clear that by refusing to name his source, Mr. Taricani is well within his rights as a journalist, and imprisoning him for any length of time would be unfair and unjust.
Mr. Taricani, by defending the First Amendment and refusing to betray the trust of his source, is acting on an ethical obligation as a journalist. This obligation to protect the privacy of an anonymous source is vital to the practice of journalism in our country. In fact, Senator Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn, recently introduced legislation that would protect journalists like Mr. Taricani from this sort of threat. While the “shield law” proposal is still in its early stages, it is apparent that many in Congress believe journalists should have the legal right to protect their sources.
An editorial in the New York Times of 11/20/04 states, “The judge cast his actions as necessary to uphold the rule of law and judicial authority, lest others feel emboldened to violate court orders. But there is a more important value at stake here - the ability of reporters to get information by promising confidentiality to skittish sources. In this case, the leak caused no harm to the legal system, but imprisonment of Mr. Taricani could have a chilling effect on journalism’s ability to expose corruption.”
Stephen F. Rohde, Vice-President of Freedom to Write and a lawyer specializing in First Amendment issues, said, “yet again the First Amendment has been relegated to second class status in our constitutional framework. The people depend on the press and the press depends on its sources. Force journalists to divulge their sources, or punish them if they don’t, and a critical and indispensable avenue of news gathering will dry up. And the losers will be the American people.”
PEN USA respectfully requests that you refrain from sentencing Mr Taricani to jail for the sake of the First Amendment and the public’s right to a free flow of news and information.
Thank you for considering our views.
Sincerely,
Carla Lazzareschi
President
on behalf of the PEN USA Executive Committee