Revealing Anonymous Sources: A violation of the First Amendment

By Scarlett Heydt
Voices editor

The First Amendment is something that a lot of people either don’t pay attention to or they don’t fully appreciate the liberties it gives people. Probably the most important part of the First Amendment is the guarantee of freedom of expression. There are of course exceptions to this rule. For instance, people are allowed to express themselves, but not in such a way that advocates the overthrow of the government.
However, this brings to light another part of the First Amendment, freedom of the press. In my mind, freedom of expression and freedom of the press are linked. It is necessary for newspapers to have the right to express views and expose injustices without having any sort of penalty.
Unfortunately though, that part of the First Amendment is not always upheld. In the media, there have recently been several cases where journalists have been forced to reveal anonymous sources. To me, this is a violation of two parts of the First Amendment. Journalists should not be persecuted for printing anything, as long as they uphold journalistic ethics and standards. Not to mention, anonymous sources should be granted the right to stay anonymous. Journalists use sources to tell a story. By forcing them to give up their credibility and name these sources, the only alternative being jail, that’s ruining their opportunity to express themselves.
By making journalists reveal anonymous sources, the courts are taking away their First Amendment rights. If this is going to continue, what’s the point of even pretending the First Amendment guarantees basic rights? This shouldn’t even be a question. The First Amendment is first because it’s so important. People, the courts in particular, need to be reminded of this, before First Amendment rights disappear completely.

Recent cases involving anonymous sources:

- In July 2005, Judith Miller, a reporter from the New York Times was sent to jail for not revealing her source in a story which leaked the identity of an undercover CIA operative. She spent eighty-five days in jail and was released on September 9th, 2005.
- In September 2006, Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada were sentenced to eighteen months in jail for not revealing a source. Their source gave them information that helped them write a book that exposed some professional sports players as steroid and /or drug users.
- Josh Wolf, a freelance journalist and blogger, was jailed in August 2006. He refused to submit his entire tape of a free-trade protest that he filmed in July 2005. He was in jail for two-hundred and twenty-six days, the longest any journalist in America has been jailed for protecting sources.