Volume 10, Number 1 (misnumbered Volume 6, Number 1)
Below is the Table of Contents for the Fall 2004 edition of the Silha Bulletin. Click on the title to read the full article.
Bulletin Fall 2004
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Introduction
Although the press is arguably one of the most transparent of contemporary institutions, a recent spate of ethics scandals has prompted criticism — as well as introspection — both inside and outside the industry.
Top Story: Panel Publishes Findings Following Review of CBS “60 Minutes” Broadcast
Four long-time, senior staffers at CBS News were either fired or asked to resign after an independent panel assigned to investigate the “60 Minutes Wednesday” Bush Guard Service segment issued its 224-page investigative report in January.
Problems in Media Ethics: Commentator’s Promotion of NCLB Leads to Questions of Ethics
On January 7, 2005, USA TODAY revealed that radio host, commentator and pundit Armstrong Williams had signed a contract with public relations firm Ketchum Inc., agreeing to air spots and do interviews that promoted George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), 20 USCS § 6301 et seq.
Problems in Media Ethics: Sinclair Broadcast Group Wrestles with Decision to Air Anti-Kerry Film
Sinclair Broadcast Group aired an hour-long program on October 29, 2004 that evolved out of its original plan to air the controversial anti-John F. Kerry documentary, “Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal.”
Problems in Media Ethics: Boston Herald Apologizes After Running Graphic Photo of Student
Graphic coverage of a student journalist’s death during a Red Sox playoff victory prompted an apology by The Boston Herald on October 22, 2004.
Problems in Media Ethics: Reporter Prompts Soldier to Question Rumsfeld, Raising Ethical Concerns
On Dec. 8, 2004, at a town hall meeting for American soldiers in Kuwait, Spc. Thomas Wilson asked Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld why he and others in the Tennessee National Guard’s 278th Regimental Combat Team “had to dig through landfills to find scrap metal to up-armor vehicles.”
Problems in Media Ethics: San Francisco Chronicle Reveals Grand Jury Testimony in BALCO Scandal
The San Francisco Chronicle’s reporting on secret grand jury testimony by baseball stars Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds in the case United States v. Victor Conte, CR-04-0044, better known as the BALCO steroids scandal, has prompted U.S. Attorney Kevin V. Ryan to formally request that the Department of Justice (DoJ) investigate the source of the leaks.
Problems in Media Ethics: St. Paul Pioneer Press Reporters Suspended after Attending Concert
Editor Vickie Gowler for the St. Paul Pioneer Press suspended two investigative reporters, Chuck Lasezewski and Rick Linsk, after they attended the October 5, 2004 political fundraising concert “Vote for Change” at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Three Speech-Related Cases
The nation’s highest court declined to consider three speech-related cases at the start of its new term in the fall of 2004.
Reporters Privilege News: Senator Dodd Introduces Federal Shield Law
In response to the “intense pressure” the press has come under in recent months to reveal the identities of confidential sources, Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn) introduced a bill to create a federal shield law in the U.S. Senate on November 19, 2004.
Reporters Privilege News: Plame Update: Journalists Miller and Cooper Appeal Their Sentences
In the most recent development in the Valerie Plame federal probe, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia heard oral arguments on Dec. 8, 2004, on whether journalists Judith Miller of The New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine can legally defend their refusal to reveal their confidential sources before the grand jury conducting an investigation.
Reporters Privilege News: Use of “Plame Waivers” of Confidentiality Is Expanding
On Dec. 17, 2004, attorneys for Dr. Steven J. Hatfill issued subpoenas to several news organizations in the case Hatfill v. Ashcroft, Hatfill’s civil lawsuit against Attorney General John Ashcroft and other government officials for alleged violations of the federal privacy act.
Reporters Privilege News: Journalist Sentenced to House Arrest for Refusing to Reveal Source
On Dec. 9, 2004, U.S. District Court Judge Ernest C. Torres sentenced reporter Jim Taricani to six months of home incarceration for refusing to identify one of his sources.
Reporters Privilege News: Canadian Journalist Found in Civil Contempt for Protecting Sources
It is not only journalists in the United States who face possible fines and jail sentences for not revealing their sources.
Reporters Privilege News: Newspaper Settles Lawsuit Against U.S. Marshals Service Over Scalia Tape
On Sept. 28, 2004, the Associated Press (AP) and the Hattiesburg American settled their lawsuit against the U.S. Marshals Service over the erasure of journalists’ recordings of a speech given by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in April 2004, after the Department of Justice (DoJ) acknowledged that the action violated federal law.
Access to Government: Maryland Governor Forbids Employees to Speak to Reporters
Maryland’s governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., has banned state publication information officers from speaking with two reporters from The Baltimore Sun.
Access to Government: Failed Highway Bill Would Have Increased Government Secrecy
A federal highway funding bill would have expanded the definition of Sensitive Security Information (SSI), information that can be withheld from the public, to include any records containing information “detrimental to the safety of passengers in transportation, transportation facilities or infrastructure of transportation employees.”
Freedom of Information Act News: Federal Lawmakers Call for Expanded Access to Court Records
The Senate Judiciary Committee and the Governmental Affairs Committee have concurrent jurisdiction to oversee the administration of federal laws such as the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, and the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. §552a, along with other laws regulating access to government records.
Access to Courts: Update: Electronic Access to Court Records
Minnesota - On Sept. 21, 2004, the Minnesota Supreme Court held a final public hearing on the proposed Rules of Public Access to Records of the Judicial Branch (Access Rules).
Access to Courts: Criminal Charges Dropped Against Kobe Bryant; Civil Suit Pending
On Sept. 1, 2004, prosecutors dropped felony rape charges against Kobe Bryant in the Colorado criminal case People v. Bryant.
New Developments in Privacy Law: Federal Judge Rules Newspaper Cannot Be Sued Under HIPPA
On Aug. 2, 2004, a federal district court judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against a Denver newspaper for an alleged violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 1320d et seq.
New Developments in Privacy Law: Video Voyeurism Prevention Act Signed into Law
The U.S. House and Senate have both approved federal legislation amending title 18 of the United States Code to include a prohibition on video voyeurism.
Internet Updates: FBI Seizes Hard Drives Belonging to Indymedia
The FBI, acting at the behest of the Italian and Swiss governments, seized computer hard drives and shut down over 20 Web sites belonging to Indymedia, a global media collective on Oct. 7, 2004.
Internet Updates: Federal Judge Finds Provision of the PATRIOT Act Unconstitutional
U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero of the Southern District of New York struck down a key provision of the USA PATRIOT Act, Pub. L. 107-56, ruling that the provision, which authorized the FBI to gather telephone and Internet records on private citizens from Internet service providers (ISPs), was unconstitutional because it allowed the agency to operate without judicial oversight.
Internet Updates: Settlement Reached in Dow Jones v. Gutnick
On Nov. 12, 2004, Dow Jones settled its lawsuit with Australian mining magnate Joe Gutnick, ending a four-year-long international defamation dispute that raised important questions about jurisdiction in cases involving Internet publications.
Updates in Libel Law: Texas Supreme Court Finds Dallas Observer Article is Satire, Not Defamation
Ending nearly five years of litigation stemming from a 1999 satirical article published in the Dallas Observer, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in September 2004 in the newspaper’s favor in New Times, Inc. v. Isaacks, 2004 Tex. LEXIS 787 (2004).
Updates in Libel Law: In Pennsylvania, No “Neutral Report” Privilege Recognized
On Oct. 20, 2004, exactly one year after the case was argued, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that there is no constitutional basis, in either the U.S. Constitution or the Pennsylvania Constitution, for an absolute privilege to protect news media publications reporting defamatory statements made by one public official about another.
Endangered Journalists: Suspect in Daniel Pearl Murder Killed by Security Forces
Amjad Hussain Farooqi, the main suspect in the kidnapping and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was killed by Pakistani security forces on Sept. 26, 2004.
Endangered Journalists: French Journalists Freed
French journalists Georges Malbrunot, 41, and Christian Chesnot, 37, walked off an airplane at Villacoublay military airport outside Paris on Dec. 22, 2004, after being held since August 20, 2004 by the group calling itself the Islamic Army of Iraq, according to The Boston Globe.
Endangered Journalists: Journalists in China
Zhao Yan, a researcher in the Beijing bureau of The New York Times has been arrested on a charge of divulging state secrets to foreigners, a crime punishable by the death penalty.
Court Rules in 50-Year-Old Secrecy Case
On Sept. 10, 2004, Federal District Judge Legrome D. Davis of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled in Herring v. United States, U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18545 (2004), that he saw no evidence of fraud in the U.S. Air Force’s testimony in a case going back some 50 years.
U.S. District Judge Orders Federal Election Commission To Create New Campaign Regulations
On Oct. 10, 2004, a U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Columbia denied a request from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to temporarily stay an order striking down several of the FEC’s campaign fundraising rules.
RIAA Announces More Lawsuits to Hobble Online Music Sharing
On Dec. 16, 2004, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a trade group representing the major music companies, announced it would be suing another 754 individuals sharing music online, including 20 individuals who are accused of using university networks to swap files.
Silha Center Events: Geneva Overholser Delivers 2004 Silha Lecture
Ethics in modern media can, and should, include a collection of internal principles, Geneva Overholser told the audience gathered for the Silha Center’s 19th Annual Lecture on Oct. 13, 2004.
Silha Center Events: Silha Center’s Fall Forum Features Paramount Studio’s Executive Director of Film Preservation
Barry Allen, Paramount Studio’s Executive Director of Film Preservation and Archival Resources, spoke to more than 40 students about the legal and ethical challenges surrounding film restoration and preservation on Nov. 11, 2004.