| Marie
Torre the first reporter
to gain national attention for going to jail for
refusing to identify a news source
As a radio and television columnist for the New
York Herald-Tribune in 1957, Marie Torre
quoted a CBS executive, whom she did not name, as
saying that Judy Garland was balking about doing
a CBS special ''because she thinks she is
terribly fat.'' Garland subsequently filed a
$1.39 million libel suit against CBS.
As a witness in a pretrial hearing, Torre was
ordered by the court to disclose the name of her
source. She refused, arguing that a reporter
should not be compelled to reveal sources in
court because such an order violated the First
Amendment's guarantee of press freedom. Judge
Sylvester Ryan of the Federal District Court in
Manhattan warned her that she could be jailed for
contempt of court. When she again refused, he
sentenced her to 10 days in jail. The case drew
attention and support from news organizations.
 Torre, with The
Herald-Tribune's backing, appealed the
sentence, but it was upheld by the Federal Court
of Appeals in New York. In his opinion, Judge Potter
Stewart conceded that ''compulsory disclosure
of a journalist's confidential sources of
information may entail an abridgment of press
freedom.'' But he added that ''the duty of a
witness to testify in a court of law has roots as
deep as the guarantee of a free press.'' He held
that Miss Torre must yield ''to a paramount
public interest in the fair administration of
justice.'' The U.S. Supreme Court refused to
review the decision, but Garland did not pursue
the case once Torre's jail term ended.
Torre kept the identity of the CBS executive
secret until her death in 1997.
New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/05/nyregion/marie-torre-72-tv-columnist-jailed-for-protecting-news-source.html
Potter
Stewart
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