This article in the NY Times (free subscription required to view it) brings my respect for the profession up a notch. Confronted with imprisonment for at least six months for refusing to name the source of information he used in a story, reporter Jim Taricani held fast to his principles and told the judge he took the protection of the First Amendment. The judge found him guilty of contempt and away he is going to house arrest.
Painful as it must be to Mr. Taricani, this is a much better thing to see than the demise of Dan Rather's career last month with the obviously bogus documents about President Bush.
Mr. Taricani basically says that naming that particular name would violate the confidence of his source, and since this all revolves around a bunch of racketeering in Providence, RI, would probably put his source at risk.
Tell the truth - go to jail...
My hat is off to Jim Taricani, a man standing on principal.
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