Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/12/21

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Subject: RE: [Leica] when is a pj not a pj?
From: "Peter A. Klein" <pklein@2alpha.net>
Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 17:33:54 -0800

George: I'd like to think so, too, but the government seems to have another 
attitude, and it extends to writers and reporters as well as 
photographers.  Recently a college teacher and crime writer named Vanessa 
Leggett was writing a book about a murder--on her own, hoping to sell it 
when she was finished.

Ms. Liggett got "in" with some sources close to the case.  These sources 
might have information that the prosecuter wants for a Federal grand jury 
investigating the case after a state court failed to convict the dead 
woman's husband.   The grand jury ordered her to reveal her sources 
and  hand over her work.  She refused, citing First Amendment rights.  They 
promptly clapped her into jail for contempt.  Last I heard, she had been in 
jail since July, with no prospect of getting out unless she hands over 
*all* her notes, both originals and copies.  She has now spent more time in 
jail than any other writer in in U.S. history who was imprisoned over their 
work.

Part of the government's case against Leggett was that she isn't a "real" 
journalist because she isn't working for an established news organization 
and has not been published commercially before (she has been published, I 
believe academically, and has written part of an FBI manual).  When it 
appeared that argument wouldn't hold water, the authorities fell back on 
the idea that there is no journalist's privilege of confidentiality in 
Federal grand jury investigation.  A three-judge panel (sound familiar?) 
denied her appeal, and the Fifth Circuit court tried to have another appeal 
heard in secret session (sound familiar?).

What's really interesting and scary about this case is that it represents a 
major change from the Justice Dept.'s customary way of dealing with 
journalists.  The court denied several national news organizations' 
requests to join a "friend of the court" brief.

For more information, check out http://www.rcfp.org/leggett.html

- --Peter

At 12:12 PM 12/21/2001 -0800, George wrote:

>I'd like to think that any serious, professional photographer who
>documents events with honesty and integrity, whether freelance,
>hired or staff would or could earn the moniker of photojournalist
>- - journaling the visual reality. Shouldn't the product have more
>to do with the title than the entity writing the check?
>
>In the case in point which began this thread:
>If, hypothetically, another freelance "photojournalist" had
>caught wind of the demonstration and documented the event on his
>or her own dime, with the hope of later sales, or simply because
>they thought it important to journal, and was also arrested and
>charged - how speaks this illustrious jury?
>
>George

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Replies: Reply from David Degner <ddegner@morris.com> (RE: [Leica] when is a pj not a pj? OT)