Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams are two reporters working for San Francisco Chronicle. They are the two authors of Game of Shadows, which is a well-known and successful book about BALCO steroids investigation. They won the 2004 George Polk Award due to the success of this collaboration.
On May 5, 2006, Fainaru-Wada and Williams were subpoenaed by a federal grand jury to testify in court. Someone leaked the confidential grand jury testimony of Barry Bonds and other athletes to them and the whole incident went viral. The jury intended to figure out where these two reporters got the confidential information. Fainaru-Wada and Williams refused to give out the name of their source because they kept their promise firmly and chose shielded their sources’ identity (Bob Egelko; 2007). They did not give up even when the court ordered to put them in jail for sixteen months. The court order was retracted after the source’s identity was revealed, the two reporters ended up not going to jail (SPJ Fred Brown).
The source who eventually got revealed to public was Troy Ellerman. Ellerman was the former commissioner of the Colorado-based Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. It turned out that he was using the media for self-serving purpose, which was getting a major case against his clients dismissed on the ground that grand jury information had been leaked. He once sworn under oath that he was not the source in late 2004. After keeping quiet for 2 years, his identity came to the light in 2007 (Sharkonline). And he was sentenced to jail for 30 months and ended up served 16 months. He was charged for obstruction of Justice, false public declaration and 2 counts of contempt of court for leaking the transcript (SPJ Fred Brown).
The two reporters, still refuse to talk about this matter publicly until this day.
It is universal principle that reporters should never break promises to anonymity. According to the US Supreme Court law, “a promise of confidentiality to a source has the legal effect of a contract”. Reporters can be sued for failing to shield their sources’ identity and can also be ordered by the court to compensate the losses of that source if there is any. But there can be exceptions, if reporters know that their sources are breaking the law, or giving them false information, reporters usually face less risk of being dragged into law suits (SPJ Fred Brown).
It’s also a matter of balance between promise of secrecy and public interest. It has been a big controversy for quite long time in terms of if it is ever permissible to reveal sources’ identities that you promise anonymity to. Some people think that it can be problematic if your source is a law breaker like Troy Ellerman. There are also people think that reporters should stick to their fundamental ethical principles and keep their promises no matter what.
The relationship between sources and reporters is mutual beneficial. In this case, the two reporters Williams and Fainaru-Wada reached out to Ellerman to get information for their publication. On the other hand, Ellerman wanted to use news media for his own self-serving purposes. So this is a lesson to the whole news media industry. Reporters should be extra careful when they consider signing a contract of secrecy. It can easily turn out troublesome if the sources are lying or attempting to manipulate the reporters. Then journalists have to struggle really hard between sticking to their promises and go to jail, or breaking the ethical rules of being a news reporter.
“George Polk Awards for Journalism press release”. Long Island University. RetrievedNovember 22, 2006.
SPJ, Ethics Case Studies, A self-serving Leak, Fred Brown, SPJ Ethics Committee.
SFGATE; Bob Egelko; Feb 14, 2007; Lawyer Admits Leaking Balco
Sharkonline; Troy Ellerman Pleads Guilty, Resigns from PRCA