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Discuss “Journalists should not have to disclose sources”

In a March 8 article in The New York Times, the Associated Press exposed an important controversy in journalism: the issue of what to do when journalists withhold sources on a sensitive topic, particularly those of national security. The article details a recent issue in which a former USA Today reporter, Toni Locy, is being fined for refusing to disclose her sources for several stories on the 2001 anthrax scare. In light of this, we ask, is there still freedom of the press in this age of terrorism and biological warfare?

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton ruled that Locy must pay fines of up to $5000 a day from early March until her April 3 appearance before the judge. Walton is seemingly bankrupting Locy as punishment for not disclosing...

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