Reporter Joins Other Journalists in Refusing to Disclose Sources

National Public Radio legal affairs reporter Nina Totenberg on Monday joined other journalists in refusing to reveal news sources to a special counsel empowered by the Senate to investigate leaks about its deliberations.

None of the half-dozen reporters and editors who have been asked under subpoena to disclose sources have done so, setting the stage for a confrontation over First Amendment rights if the Senate decides to try to compel testimony by the journalists.

The special counsel, Peter E. Fleming Jr., declined to say whether any other journalists will be called to testify or whether he will seek an order from the Senate Rules and Administration Committee to force testimony by those who have refused to answer questions about their sources.

Fleming was hired by the Senate to learn the source of stories about Anita Faye Hill’s charges of sexual harassment against Clarence Thomas during deliberations on Thomas’ confirmation to the Supreme Court last year and about the “Keating Five” ethics investigation that began in late 1989.

Hill’s charges were disclosed by Totenberg and by Newsday reporter Timothy Phelps, who refused to disclose his sources to Fleming on Feb. 13. Under separate subpoenas, NPR and Newsday editors have refused to produce materials requested by Fleming. Washington Times reporter Paul Rodriguez has refused to disclose sources for stories on the ethics probe of five senators’ ties to former savings and loan executive Charles H. Keating Jr.

In a prepared statement, Totenberg told Fleming that her job “would not be worth having, and a free press would no longer be free” if she divulged her sources.