Prison for Judith Miller et Matthew Cooper : A dark day for freedom of the press

It was with sadness and concern that Reporters Without Borders learned on July 6, 2005 that Judith Miller of The New York Times, and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, had been remanded into custody. The two journalists were given an 18-month prison term for refusing to reveal their sources. "It is a dark day for freedom of the press in the United States and around the world. This unprecedented sentence against two journalists who were merely exercising their professional prerogative is a serious violation of international law, a dangerous precedent, and the United states has sent a very bad signal to the rest of the world. As a member of the Organization of American States, the United States has a duty to comply with the texts adopted by the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, whose Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression clearly stipulates that every journalist has "the right to keep his/her source of information, notes, personal and professional archives confidential" (Article 8)," Reporters Without Borders stated. Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper had been sentenced to an 18-month jail term twice before by a federal appeals court for "contempt of court" because of their refusal to reveal their sources in the Valerie Plame case involving the name of the CIA operative whose identity had been revealed in the press in 2003. On June 27, the Supreme Court had rejected their appeal-their last chance to avoid the sentence. On June 29, Federal Judge Thomas F. Hogan had granted the two journalists a one-week delay to provide the names of their informers. Time magazine had immediately submitted to the court all of the documents, notes and information gathered by Matthew Cooper-over the latter's objections-while he was investigating the Plame case. However, Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald found the proposal insufficient, and during a hearing on July 5, demanded that the journalists themselves disclose their sources. At that same hearing, the prosecutor also rejected the request made by The New York Times and Time to substitute a house arrest for a jail sentence. From December 9, 2004 to April 9, 2005, Jim Taricani of the television station WJAR-TV (an NBC affiliated) had been confined in his home on the same grounds and prohibited from granting any interviews or using the Internet.