Contacts: Ray Marcano, SPJ president, 937/225-2323; Bruce Brown, SPJ First Amendment legal counsel, 202/861-1500

INDIANAPOLIS - The Society of Professional Journalists urges a Philadelphia judge to reverse her decision to fine two reporters $40,000 each.
Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Jane Cutler Greenspan fined Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Mark Bowden and Philadelphia Tribune reporter Linn Washington Jr. after they refused to turn their interview notes over to the court in the murder trial of defendant Brian Tyson.

The Society sent a letter to Greenspan today supporting the reporters and asking the judge to reverse the fines. The letter also was copied to the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board and the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline.

"Judge Greenspan's decision to fine these two journalists is simply outrageous," said Ray Marcano, SPJ president and regional editor at the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News. "They've broken no laws, done nothing illegal and are protected by Pennsylvania's shield law. But since the judge can't prohibit these journalists from doing their job, she has decided to levy a fine that can only serve to try to intimidate them and their colleagues across the state. As journalists, we need to send a message that these strong-armed judicial tactics don't work in a country that supports a free press, and SPJ stands with Mark Bowden and Linn Washington Jr. as they battle this unfair and unjust fine. We also call on Judge Greenspan to immediately reverse her decision."

Bowden and Washington are protected from relinquishing their notes under Pennsylvania's state shield law. The state's shield law guards sources' identities and unpublished information of a "person engaged on, connected with, or employed by any newspaper, press association or magazine for the purpose of gathering, procuring, compiling, editing or publishing news."
The Society wrote in its letter that it "supports the efforts of Bowden and Washington to protect their interview notes because we believe it is in the best interest of a free, ethical and credible American press."

"As we understand it, a judge in Pennsylvania has never done what Judge Greenspan did last week - hold reporters in contempt for refusing to turn over unpublished notes to prosecutors for use in a criminal trial," said Bruce Brown, SPJ First Amendment legal counsel. "The judge based her decision on the fact that the interviews with the journalists were on-the-record. But even information that is not provided on a confidential basis is protected under Pennsylvania's shield law."

Letter sent to Judge Jane Greenspan

Dec. 20 clarifcation...