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NEW YORK--Famed First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams of New York, The New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning reporter David Barstow, and former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Zachary Carter will lead a panel discussion on whether reporters should have a privilege from testifying in court, and if Congress should pass a federal shield law.
"Journalists working in New York currently do not know whether they and their sources will be subject to the New York Shield Law standard or the less protective federal standard, which is determined by case law. We believe that it is important for the bar association of a state such as New York, which is home to so many media organizations large and small, to feature a discussion concerning the balance between press freedoms and trial rights currently at work in New York courts and whether that should be extended in some form to the federal courts," said Edward J. Klaris of New York, chair of the New York State Bar Association's Committee on Media Law, which is sponsoring the forum.
Noted criminal defense attorney Martin Adelman of New York rounds out the panel, moderated by George Freeman, The New York Times assistant general counsel.
According to Freeman, the panelists will discuss a range of topics related to reporters' need to keep sources confidential in the context of New York's experience with its shield law, and the recent cases of Judy Miller and Matt Cooper, including whether the privilege from providing testimony should be absolute or qualified. Miller, a Times journalist, was imprisoned for 85 days last year for refusing to name her source for a story that was never published.
The program is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 26 from 2 p.m.to 4:15 p.m. at the New York Marriott Marquis in Manhattan, as part of the bar association's 129th Annual Meeting.
The 72,000-New York State Bar Association is the official statewide organization of lawyers in New York and the largest voluntary state bar association in the nation.
1-23-06
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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