Time Magazine Folds in CIA Case

Time Magazine has decided not to send its reporter to jail for contempt after all:

Time Inc. said Thursday it would comply with a court order to deliver the notes of a reporter threatened with jail in a probe of the leak of a CIA officer's name. The New York Times, which is also involved in the dispute, said it was "deeply disappointed" at the move, which came days after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected two journalists' appeal.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan is threatening to jail Matthew Cooper, Time's White House correspondent, and Judith Miller of the Times for contempt for refusing to disclose their sources. Time said it believed its cooperation would make Cooper's jailing unnecessary.

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear the reporters' appeal and the grand jury investigating the leak expires in October. If jailed, the reporters would be freed at that time.

In a statement, Time, which is a defendant in the case along with the two reporters, said it believes "the Supreme Court has limited press freedom in ways that will have a chilling effect on our work and that may damage the free flow of information that is so necessary in a democratic society." '

Welcome to the club, Time. The rest of us got hammered in the eminent domain case, and the press is trying to see that campaign finance regulations apply to bloggers but not to them, so I guess it's only right that the press takes one on the chin too.

The New York Times is "deeply disappointed" that Time Mag gave up:

We are deeply disappointed by Time Inc.’s decision to deliver the subpoenaed records. We faced similar pressures in 1978 when both our reporter Myron Farber and the Times Company were held in contempt of court for refusing to provide the names of confidential sources.

Mr. Farber served 40 days in jail and we were forced to pay significant fines. Our focus is now on our own reporter, Judith Miller, and in supporting her during this difficult time.

We feel your pain.