CBS reporter Catherine Herridge is facing contempt charges for refusing to disclose the identity of her confidential source.
In August, US District Court for the District of Columbia, Christopher Cooper, ordered Herridge to sit down for a sworn deposition regarding a confidential source she used for a 2017 story she covered on a Department of Defense-funded school that was at the center of federal investigations over Chinese military ties while she was at Fox News.
The judge ordered Herridge to turn over her source(s) in response to a lawsuit that was filed by Chinese-American scientist Yanping Chen against the FBI. Chen subpoenaed Herridge in an effort to find out who her sources were.
Herridge argued she should not be forced to disclose her source because of her First Amendment rights.
Judge Cooper, an Obama appointee, disagreed and forced Herridge to unmask her source.
“The Court recognizes both the vital importance of a free press and the critical role that confidential sources play in the work of investigative journalists like Herridge,” Cooper wrote in the ruling in August. “But applying the binding case law of this Circuit, the Court concludes that Chen’s need for the requested evidence overcomes Herridge’s qualified First Amendment privilege in this case.”
Herridge refused to disclose her source during the deposition and now she faces contempt charges and potential jail time, The Epoch Times reported.
“With contempt proceedings now teed up, one of two outcomes appears likely: either Herridge will be held in contempt in the near future and can immediately appeal that order, or, as sometimes occurs in these cases, the sources may release Herridge from the privilege rather than watch her undergo the consequences of contempt,” Judge Cooper wrote in an order on Friday.
Excerpt from The Epoch Times:
A reporter who was with Fox News when she reported on information provided by a confidential source is facing a contempt charge because she’s refusing to reveal the source’s identity despite a court order that she do so.
Catherine Herridge, now a reporter for CBS News, was ordered in August to disclose the identity and motive of the source, who provided information about an FBI investigation into a Chinese scientist.
But Ms. Herridge, during a deposition after the order was handed down, “refused to answer questions regarding the identity of her confidential source(s) and other aspects of her reporting process and editorial decision-making,” lawyers for Yanping Chen, the scientist, said in a recent filing.
They asked the court to hold Ms. Herridge in contempt, a criminal charge that can bring jail time.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who gave the order, said on Oct. 27 that Ms. Herridge would likely be held in contempt unless she provided the information.
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