JN204 Study Guide - Comfort Object, Ehow, Richard Posner
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In addition to this being an ethical issue which calls into question a journalist"s personal integrity, the issue also has the potential to radically alter the institution of journalism. Journalists may one day, face the grim choice of breaking their word or breaking the law. (jobb 309) 1 this day perhaps should not have to happen. Amendment protections that journalists have depended upon and the public have benefited from are at great risk. (fernandez) 2 to elaborate: Ideally, the first amendment should protect journalists from revealing their sources of information. Courts have ruled otherwise, and recent cases have resulted in the jailing or fining of reporters. (starbulletin. com) 3. The courts know that if the accused have spoken to a journalist, then the journalist is a valuable commodity to the case. Journalists are under an unprecedented legal siege, battling the efforts of prosecutors, judges and defense attorneys to acquire information about their confidential sources. (fernandez) 4.