Judge Andrew Napolitano brought his legal expertise to America’s Newsroom this morning to take a look at the First Amendment fight in Colorado that has ensnared a Fox News reporter. A court has threatened Jana Winter with possible jail time for refusing to reveal a confidential source for a bombshell FoxNews.com story on the July 2012 Aurora movie theater massacre.
Winter reported the contents of a notebook allegedly kept by accused shooter James Holmes, and sent to his psychiatrist. The journal is said to contain details about how Holmes intended to kill people. He was arrested last July and is now on trial in the murders of 12 people.
Defense attorneys are trying to convince a judge to force Winter to reveal how she obtained the notebook. They say the leak violated the judge’s gag order and hurts Holmes’ right to a fair trial. Winter argues she is protected by the Colorado Shield Law, which allows a journalist to keep a source confidential on a matter of material public interest.
She is fighting a judge’s order to appear in court and either reveal the source or possibly go to jail.
Judge Napolitano told Martha MacCallum that there is no question in his mind that Winter’s reporting contained information that was absolutely vital to the public interest, since it revealed that authorities were warned by the psychiatrist about Holmes’ dangerous mental state.
“She not only didn’t do anything wrong, she did a profound good by getting these notes and revealing their existence, and now they want to put her in jail!” said Napolitano.
“Without whistleblowers, without the Shield Law, without reporters protecting their sources, when the government is involved we would have to rely exclusively on the government for this information. The government is not very good about coming forward with information that makes itself look bad,” he said.
Read More... http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/04/08/judge-napolitano-on-fox-news-jana-winter-facing-jail-time-she-not-only-did-nothing-wrong-she-did-a-profound-good/
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