The New York Times resists complying with the law - yet again
Published Thu, Nov 16 2006 7:00 PM
Technorati Tags: News and Politics
A former Army scientist suing the New York Times for libel has asked a federal judge to fine the newspaper $25,000 a day for refusing to disclose its confidential sources and to increase the fine amount by $25,000 each month in an attempt to encourage the paper to comply.
The scientist, Steven Hatfill, contends that a series of Times columns fingered him as responsible for the anthrax mailings in 2001 that terrorized the nation and killed at least five people. While the FBI searched Mr. Hatfill's home and the Justice Department eventually named him as a "person of interest" in the anthrax case, neither the scientist nor anyone else was ever charged in connection with the crimes.
Last month, a federal magistrate in Alexandria, Va., where Mr. Hatfill's suit was filed, ordered the Times to identify the sources for the five columns in dispute. A federal judge upheld the order, but the newspaper indicated the author of the columns, Nicholas Kristof, would persist in refusing to name his sources.
...
Mr. Connolly painted the Times's refusal to comply as brazen and willful. "Courts, not newspapers, decide what evidence must be presented in court when the administration of justice so requires," the lawyer wrote.
Read more in The New York Sun.
This isn't the first time that the New York Times has refused to comply with a court order. Eventually they'll get the message that just because the Constitution promises "freedom of the press" doesn't give them a license to print libel.
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