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April 2005

PSST! CONFIDENTIAL!

It's a situation just about every journalist has encountered. In the middle of an interview, my source leaned forward, lowered her voice, and said, "There's something I want to tell you, but you can't put it in your article." Then she whispered her secret.

Why did she trust a stranger with these relevations? Reporters have a long tradition of going to great lengths to keep certain facts confidential, whether these be off-the-record comments or the identity of an informant.

As I write this, two writers -- Judith Miller of The New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time Magazine -- face possible jail time for refusing to name their sources to a grand jury investigating the outing of Valerie Plame, a CIA agent. And in recent months a record number of other journalists have been subpoenaed by federal courts, then were held in contempt when they declined to divulge their confidential sources -- actions that ASJA condemned in a recent press release.

"If reporters fail to protect confidential sources, then vulnerable sources stay silent and important stories go untold," says Claire Safran, chair of ASJA's First Amendment Committee, which issued the statement. "And that's still true," she adds, "if the informants have malicious motives -- or even break the law, as was the case with the still unknown tipster who illegally divulged a covert agent's name. A journalist must honor the promise of anonymity."

That's why ASJA has long advocated for a national reporters shield law, adds Claire. "Thirty-one states have such laws in place, but they don't protect writers who refuse to break their pledge of confidentiality to sources in federal court." Having a national law would benefit both serious journalists and the public, by encouraging whistleblowers who want to report wrongdoing inside or outside of government to come forward, without fear of reprisals that could result if their names appeared in print.

Because Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) has proposed such a bill (S.3020), the First Amendment Committee has voted to honor him with its Open Book Award at ASJA's writers conference this month. This award recognizes those who have acted on our society's most valued traditions of openness and choice, and was last given in 1990 to the "NEA Nine," the first nine entities to turn down financial grants from the National Endowment for the Arts to protest strings of censorship attached to the money. Among the Nine were the New York Shakespeare Festival, the New School for Social Research, The Paris Review and University of Iowa Press.

Along with fighting to shield reporters from being ordered to name names or face jail time, ASJA also has its own tradition of confidentiality. Since its start over half a century ago, our society has maintained two unique resources: PayCheck and the Warning List. The reason these continuously updated, confidential lists are so valuable is that members can freely divulge their article fees or blow the whistle on legal or ethical breaches on the part of a publisher, knowing that their anonymous reports are strictly confidential -- and won't get back to the editors for whom they work.

Since then, we've greatly expanded our insider information. The members-only section of our Web site brims with exclusive resources, including our brand new Successful Book Proposal database. This soon-to-be-launched project will feature the actual pitches the many talented authors in our group have used to sell their books, says ASJA member Pam Kramer, the dedicated volunteer who also spearheads our Successful Query project. (She invites members to send their proposals in either Word or PDF format. As soon as we have enough proposals, the database will be launched.)

Also on the Web site, our members-only discussion forums are an opportunity to get the scoop on a particular editor or agent, find new markets, vent about publishing hassles, trumpet your latest publishing triumph or even confide about a personal dilemma around our virtual Water Cooler. And in the newsletter, the confidential section is packed with exclusive market reports, craft how-to's, industry updates and success secrets.

Each month, we remind members that all of these goodies are for the eyes of members only and can't be shared with anyone outside our group. Think of the confidential section of the newsletter and the members-only portion of our Web site as your own personal tipster, who whispers off-the-record secrets in your ear, trusting you to honor ASJA's -- and journalism's -- longstanding code of confidentiality.

LISA COLLIER COOL of Pelham, New York, is president of ASJA. E-mail the president through www.asja.org/contact.php.