Reporters hamstrung under U.S. government practices on two fronts: subpoenas and access.

Under the Bush administration, newsletter, trade, and even mainstream reporters are having a pretty difficult time both in protecting their sources and in getting information out of the government.

Subpoenas abound

Three high-profile cases of reporters being subpoenaed to reveal their sources highlight the innumerable cases of federal courts aggressively pursuing journalists:

* The Valerie Plume investigation has to be one of the oddest. In 2003, after columnist Robert Novak--who also edits the Evans-Novak Political Report, a newsletter published by Eagle Publishing Inc.--outed Plume as an undercover CIA officer, it was not Novak who was subpoenaed but rather six reporters from The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. They were ordered to reveal their sources about the story. Each still face heavy fines.

* The Wen Ho Lee Privacy Act case focuses on the government's 1999 investigation of Lee, a former nuclear physicist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, on espionage charges. All but one of the charges were eventually dropped. Lee sued the Energy and Justice departments under the Privacy Act and sought to have the journalists who reported on the investigation reveal confidential sources they had used in their stories.

* In the third case, Jim Taricani, a reporter for WJAR-TV in Providence, Rhode Island, refused to reveal how he received a leaked videotape showing a Providence city official taking a bribe from an undercover FBI informant.

Last spring a judge ordered Taricani to reveal the leak or face fines of $1,000 a day. The 1st Circuit, Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's contempt order in June. The four-time Emmy Award-winning reporter is currently serving six months of home confinement, while the subjects of his reporting are serving prison sentences.

Reporters' committee responds

This rash of federal court cases moved the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press to launch a petition drive in support of a number reporters facing court sanctions for refusing to obey court orders to reveal their sources.

The Committee's statement reads as follows:

For well over a century, reporters have recognized an ethical duty to protect their confidential sources. If journalists could not and did not honor this guarantee, significant sources who fear reprisal would be afraid to reveal what they know; valuable information about government conduct would not reach the public.

Reporters recognize that this duty must be defended uniformly. It should not be compromised whenever questions are raised about possible sources, or it will be lost in all situations.

We support the reporters in current federal court proceedings who are refusing to testify about their confidential sources and now face stiff fines, even jail. We commend these reporters for standing firm and standing up for First Amendment principles.

The Newsletter & Electronic Publishers Association joined more than 3,000 individuals and 40 supporting organizations in signing the petition. (Also see sidebar, below, on current legislative action.)

Attack on Freedom of Information Act

In the wake of 9/11, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a memo nullifying any gains Freedom of Information advocates made from Clinton administration Attorney General Janet Reno's memo strengthening the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Ashcroft wrote that the Bush administration is committed to "safeguarding our national security, enhancing the effectiveness of our law-enforcement agencies, protecting sensitive business information and, not least, preserving personal privacy."

Newsletter and specialized-information reporters have reported numerous instances of even routine information gathering (in one case, just obtaining biographical data of a newly appointed deputy assistant secretary at the Labor Department) being blocked.

Other breaches of FOIA include refusing trade reporters entrance to press conferences and denying the waiver of fees in those cases when the requester meets the public interest test or falls within certain other categories covered by FOIA.

In the case of smaller publishers, the burden of trying to get access strains more than their budgets--and their deadlines--can bear. They are effectively shut out.

Hope is on the horizon

During congressional confirmation hearings on Ashcroft's successor, Alberto Gonzales, the nominee indicated he may be friendlier to open government policies than Ashcroft was. In response to a question from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Gonzales said he was committed to "strongly look at" the possibility of creating a uniform standard to ensure government documents would be kept shielded only in cases where releasing them would cause harm.

Gonzales also said he will work with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) to improve federal agency response to FOIA requests.

Cornyn plans to introduce legislation to end the log jam FOIA requesters often face.

But the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press reported that Gonzales has a checkered record on open government issues, that he has shown a penchant as White House counsel to strictly regulate access to government and executive-branch information.