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The two main reporters in the BALCO scandal and co-authors of “The Book of Shadows”, Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, are facing jail time for refusing to reveal their sources. What’s amazing is that these two are looking at an even bigger sentence than any of the convicted steroid dealers in the case.
You had to know that it was coming sooner or later. The knowledge and insight into the Barry Bonds case that was so extensive a best selling book called “The Book of Shadows” was spawned from its articles, the flawless reporting on the infamous BALCO (Laboratorio de área de la bahía de cooperativa) case that left other California journalists seething with jealously. Sooner or later, you knew that San Francisco Chronicle reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada were going to become entangled in the same mess with the people that they took so much effort to expose.
Williams and Fainaru-Wada are now facing the prospect of jail time as a reward for their series of stories that were published in the San Francisco Chronicle that essentially blew the whistle on BALCO and a host of professional athletes. The pair has been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury on the matter of who leaked inside information concerning statements by Barry Bonds, Bill Romanowski, Jason Giambi, Marion Jones, and others as well as knowledge of the BALCO company.
No obstante, both are refusing to release the name of their source(s), which could spell out hefty fines and jail time until they agree to talk. And that doesn’t look to be any time soon either as Fainaru-Wada was quoted as saying, “Of course we are going to stand up for our sources and we would never betray them”. If Williams and Fainaru-Wada won’t give up their sources, then it is likely that they will spend even more time in jail than any of the steroid dealers who were linked to the BALCO case that they reported on.
De hecho, if the two spend just one day in jail, it would be longer than any of the five dealers who were convicted. The most notable of the five include track coach Remi Korchemmy and BALCO vice president James Valente, who are only serving probationary sentences and have done no jail time.
Pero por otro lado, most experts believe that Williams and Fainaru-Wada won’t get as tough of sentences as those seen by BALCO president Victor Conte, Enlaces de Barry’ personal trainer Greg Anderson, or alleged BALCO supplier and elitefitness.com member Patrick Arnold. Conte and Greg Anderson are both serving four months in prison while Arnold is looking at three.
If history is the judge on what type of sentence the two will receive, then the pair will most likely be put behind bars for a while as there has been a curbing trend that favors the government in these sorts of cases. A trend that really came to a head in 2003 when two Chicago newspaper giants, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, lost a case involving the right to protect their reporters from being forced to release interviews from a witness in a terrorism case.
In another situation, a New York Times reporter named Judith Miller had to spend 85 days in jail for refusing to testify in a high profile case that gained national attention when CIA agent Valerie Plame had her name leaked to reporters. The case had even bigger implications when charges of perjury and obstruction of justice were brought against Vice President Dick Cheney and his top aide, Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
A third incident involved a Rhode Island reporter named Jim Taricani, who spent four months in home confinement because he wouldn’t give up a tape that showed a city official taking a bribe. This is just another example of what many believe to be part of the Bush administration’s revamped efforts to target leaks made to journalists.
Most of these cases fall in line with the 1972 case Branzburg v. Hayes in which a U.S. Supreme Court Justice ruled that reporters aren’t given immunity from answering grand jury questions. But until the last few years, this ruling was often ignored as a more popular ruling on the same case was typically followed by judges, which asks that journalists’ First Amendment rights be balanced with the public’s right to know.
It seems that in a case involving reporters not divulging sources with inside information to professional athletes' steroid use, the courts will definitely side with Branzburg v. Hayes. Especially since, much like the Bush administration’s bolstered efforts to cut down on leaks made to journalists, Congress as a whole has made extensive efforts to crack down on those involved with steroids.
Even if these are the same two reporters who helped to lead Congress’ charge against steroids with their writings and investigative journalism. The same duo that was partly responsible for the pressure that was put on many professional sports leagues, especially Major League Baseball, to implement tougher steroid policies.
But Williams and Fainaru-Wada can’t be put on a higher pedestal than others simply on the basis that they’re journalists. They should be held to the same standard as everyone else in America. From our Vice President to professional baseball players, there should be no exceptions to valid grand jury investigations.
It’s funny that Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams jumped on the anti-steroid bandwagon created by Congress and the media and form fitted their journalism around these concepts. Now it seems that, ironically, the two could be going down for the same stories that made them famous.
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