Vanessa Leggett didn’t want to become an informant for the federal prosecutors’ office in 2001.’
On July 20, 2001, she was incarcerated for not turning in subpoenaed material collected on the case.
Wednesday, the Texas House overwhelmingly approved HB 670, the Texas Free Flow of Information Act, with a 146-2 vote. The bill provides limited protections under the law for journalists’ sources.’
Texas is one of 16 states that does not have some form of legal protection for journalists. The issue first came to the fore in 1972 in Supreme Court case Branzburg vs. Hayes.
Although the Court did not overturn the decision to force Branzburg to comply with subpoena, it did establish a series of requirements used as a guideline for compelling testimony from journalists. The guidelines consist of relevance of information to the case and compelling state interest.’
In Leggett’s case, the FBI had its own interviews and extensive access to the subjects of her interviews, and had demanded, under subpoena, all originals and copies of her material. The subpoena was also so broad as to constitute ‘fishing,’ a nonspecific request to prowl through her notes to see if she had anything relevant to the case.’ ‘
‘There are certain burdens that must be met, that should be met by the government,’ Legett said in her April 22, 2002 interview with Charlie Rose.’ ‘
Ultimately, the responsibility for burden of proof lies with the prosecution of a case.
Journalists are subject to fact checking and review.’ Their material is intellectual property, but more importantly, journalists have an ethical mandate to serve the public interest.
When Leggett was released in 2002, she had served 168 days in a federal detention center in Houston. She is still the journalist longest held for contempt of court in the U.S. for not revealing sources under subpoena.’
Whistleblowers are protected in the U.S., and a free press has become an earmark of democracy. Let the legal system look to its own house – journalists have a separate mandate, and should be free to exercise it with integrity.
