Reporter Enters Jail for Protecting Source
Reporter Tim Roche began serving a 30-day jail sentence Monday for refusing to identify a confidential source who gave him a sealed court document in a child-custody case.
Last week, Roche, 24, rejected Gov. Lawton Chiles’ offer to avoid prison by performing 300 hours of community service. Roche said anything less than a full pardon would compromise his principles.
“I simply am sticking to my word, protecting a source.”
Roche, a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times, was working for the Stuart News in 1990 when a judge found him in contempt for refusing to say who let him see a confidential child-custody order. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal.
Attorneys for Roche said that letting reporters protect confidential sources is essential to freedom of the press and freedom of speech, and to the public’s right to know about the inner workings of government and courts.
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