Westin: ABC Affected By DOJ Climate

[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
ABC News President David Westin said Wednesday that his news operation has been chilled, or at least had to adjust the cost-benefit analysis of its stories, by the Justice Department's pursuit of journalists as witnesses in grand jury investigations. That testimony came in the Senate Judiciary Committee's second hearing on bill S. 340, introduced by Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar, which would establish a protection for reporters from federal subpoenas, with exceptions in the case of imminent threat to national security. A similar bill is being spearheaded in the House by another Indiana Republican, Rep. Mike Pence. Mr. Westin, an attorney and former Supreme Court clerk, said that he was not there to attack the Justice Department, but to argue that there needs to be a rule that says prosecutors and others can have access only to the information they truly need and can get in no other way. He said that it should be up to the courts, not the unfettered desertion of DOJ, to assess that need for access.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6275784?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP
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* Journalists Testify in Favor of Shield Law
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/national/20shield.html?pagewanted=all