Media Groups Unite on Protecting Sources

A broad coalition of media organizations — including The New York Times — urged a federal appeals court to protect an investigative reporter from being forced to testify about his confidential sources, rejecting the Justice Department’s claim that journalists have no such protections in criminal trials.

At issue is whether James Risen, a New York Times reporter, must testify about the sourcing for a chapter in his 2006 book, “State of War,” detailing what it portrays as a botched Central Intelligence Agency effort to sabotage Iranian nuclear research. Prosecutors want him to be a witness in the trial of Jeffrey A. Sterling, a former C.I.A. operative charged with leaking the classified information to him. Last year, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the United States District Court in Alexandria (VA), ruled that Risen was protected by a qualified “reporter’s privilege” that allowed her to balance whether it was necessary to force him to disclose his sources. She contended that Risen’s testimony was not crucial because prosecutors could use other evidence against Sterling. The prosecutorial team, led by William M. Welch II of the Justice Department’s criminal division, has appealed that ruling, arguing that no reporter’s privilege exists in criminal trials. Prosecutors argued that if a reporter witnessed a crime — in this case, the unauthorized disclosure of classified information — then he could be subpoenaed to testify about it just like anyone else.