NYT reporter jailed for not disclosing identity of source

A New York Times reporter was jailed on Wednesday for refusing to submit to questioning by a special prosecutor investigating possible wrong doing by the Bush administration, but a Time magazine reporter avoided jail at the last minute by agreeing to cooperate with the government. US District Judge Thomas F. Hogan ordered Judith Miller, 57, imprisoned until she agreed to testify in an investigation into the illegal revealing of a CIA operative, declaring that the rights of journalists to gather news and protect confidential sources must occasionally yield to the power of prosecutors to demand testimony and investigate suspected crimes.

In the closely watched test of press freedoms, Miller’s lawyers had contended that the reporter, who shared a Pulitzer Prize, should not be sent to jail because she was exercising her rights under the First Amendment. But Hogan said journalists had no greater rights than other citizens when called upon to testify in federal proceedings.

While Miller braced for jail, Time reporter Matthew Cooper surprised the court by announcing that he would agree to testify in the case. Both had been held in civil contempt of court by Hogan for their refusal to identify sources in their reporting on the possibly illegal disclosure of the identity of a CIA agent by a Bush administration official. Cooper said a source in the CIA leak investigation had phoned him Wednesday morning to release him from his pledge of confidentiality and had encouraged him to testify. That source has not been identified.

White House political strategist Karl Rove has acknowledged speaking with Cooper, but has denied unmasking the CIA agent’s identity. ‘‘I have a person in front of me who is defying the law and may be obstructing justice,’’ Hogan said in pronouncing judgment on Miller. ‘‘The court has to take action.’’

—LAT-WP