By Zachary Coile
San Francisco Chronicle
Sept. 28, 2006
Excerpt:
California's leading federal lawmakers are calling for swift action by
Congress on a federal media shield law, saying the threatened jailing of two
Chronicle reporters shows that new protections are needed to allow journalists
to guard their confidential sources.
California Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat who once worked as a reporter
for the Pacific Sun in Marin County, said it was "very disturbing" that
reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams were sentenced to prison last
week for refusing to name their sources for grand jury testimony in stories
exposing steroids use in sports.
"I really support the right of a reporter not to reveal their sources," Boxer said in interview this week. "It will have a chilling effect if people are going to jail for telling the truth.
"In this particular area, the abuse of steroids, it's an enormous threat to the health of our young people. It's a very important story that needs to be told, above and beyond the particular athletes who were named. To me, the value of the story is so that we can really look at the threat to our young people," she said.
