[Mb-civic] A Journalist Jailed - Washington Post (lead editorial)

[William Swiggard]

A Journalist Jailed

Thursday, July 7, 2005; Page A18

THE JAILING of New York Times reporter Judith Miller yesterday in an 
attempt to force her to testify about a source is a damaging blow to the 
press's ability to do its job. Ms. Miller has refused to testify before 
the grand jury investigating the leak of Valerie Plame's identity as a 
covert CIA operative, and the federal courts have ruled against her 
claims of privilege. Yet while special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald 
was legally entitled to take action against her, his judgment in doing 
so is highly questionable. We don't yet know how compelling are the 
facts underlying this extraordinary sanction. They are still mostly 
secret. But unless Mr. Fitzgerald is preparing to bring a case of great 
public importance to which Ms. Miller's testimony is indispensable, her 
jailing will appear as a serious abuse of prosecutorial discretion and a 
gratuitous assault on press freedom.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/06/AR2005070601964.html
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