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 李文和控告政府和5家新闻机构: 和解获160万 |
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dck
加入时间: 2004/04/02
文章: 2801
经验值: 4649
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作者：dck 在 罕见奇谈 发贴, 来自 http://www.hjclub.org
曾被怀疑为中国间谍的前美国华裔核武科学家李文和控告政府违反隐私法侵犯其私人权利案，已于6月2日达成和解，李文和将会从美国政府和5家新闻机构获赔160万美元。几家媒体发表声明称，他们勉强同意和解只是为了保护记者不会因拒绝透露政府消息来源而被判入狱
News Organizations Settle in Suit With Wen Ho Lee
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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 2, 2006
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Associated Press and four other news organizations have agreed to pay a former nuclear weapons scientist $750,000 as part of a settlement of his privacy lawsuit against the federal government that turned into a fight over reporters' confidential sources.
Wen Ho Lee, once suspected of being a spy, ended his 6.5-year-old lawsuit against the Energy and Justice Departments on Friday. Lee had accused federal officials of smearing him by leaking information that he was under investigation as a spy for China.
The case took an unusual turn when federal judges held five reporters in contempt of court for refusing to disclose the sources of their stories about the government's espionage investigation of Lee.
The payment by AP, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and ABC is the first of its kind in recent memory, and perhaps ever, legal and media experts said.
The companies bluntly said they agreed to the sum to forestall jail sentences for their reporters, even larger payments in the form of fines and the prospect of revealing confidential sources.
"We were reluctant to contribute anything to this settlement, but we sought relief in the courts and found none," the companies said. "Given the rulings of the federal courts in Washington and the absence of a federal shield law, we decided this was the best course to protect our sources and to protect our journalists."
The statement noted that the accuracy of the reporting itself was not challenged.
The final terms of Lee's settlement with the government were not immediately known, but a draft settlement circulated last week included a payment of $895,000 in attorney's fees and no admission that the government agencies had violated Lee's privacy rights.
Wen Ho Lee Settles Privacy Lawsuit
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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 2, 2006
Filed at 10:11 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wen Ho Lee, the former nuclear weapons scientist once suspected of being a spy, settled his privacy lawsuit Friday and will receive $1.6 million from the government and five news organizations in a case that turned into a fight over reporters' confidential sources.
Lee will receive $895,000 from the government for legal fees and associated taxes in the 6 1/2-year-old lawsuit in which he accused the Energy and Justice departments of violating his privacy rights by leaking information that he was under investigation as a spy for China.
The Associated Press and four other news organizations have agreed to pay Lee $750,000 as part of the settlement, which ends contempt of court proceedings against five reporters who refused to disclose the sources of their stories about the espionage investigation.
Lee said of the settlement: ''We are hopeful that the agreements reached today will send the strong message that government officials and journalists must and should act responsibly in discharging their duties and be sensitive to the privacy interests afforded to every citizen of this country.''
The payment by AP, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and ABC is the only one of its kind in recent memory, and perhaps ever, legal and media experts said.
The companies said they agreed to the sum to forestall jail sentences for their reporters, even larger payments in the form of fines and the prospect of revealing confidential sources. The companies and their reporters were not defendants in the privacy lawsuit.
''We were reluctant to contribute anything to this settlement, but we sought relief in the courts and found none,'' the companies said. ''Given the rulings of the federal courts in Washington and the absence of a federal shield law, we decided this was the best course to protect our sources and to protect our journalists.''
The statement noted that the accuracy of the reporting itself was not challenged.
The government agencies did not admit that they had violated Lee's privacy rights.
Betsy Miller, one of Lee's lawyers, said the payments show ''that both the government and the journalists knew that they had significant exposure had this case gone to trial.''
Lee was fired from his job at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, but he was never charged with espionage. He was held in solitary confinement for nine months, then released in 2000 after pleading guilty to mishandling computer files. A judge apologized for Lee's treatment.
Two federal judges held the reporters in contempt for refusing to reveal their sources to Lee. The journalists had argued that he could obtain the information elsewhere.
U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer signed an order Friday vacating the contempt proceedings against the reporters, H. Josef Hebert of The Associated Press, James Risen of The New York Times, Bob Drogin of the Los Angeles Times, Walter Pincus of The Washington Post, and Pierre Thomas, formerly of CNN and now working for ABC News.
CNN, in a separate statement, said it declined to join in the settlement ''because we had a philosophical disagreement over whether it was appropriate to pay money to Wen Ho Lee or anyone else to get out from under a subpoena.''
The reporters had appealed the contempt rulings to the Supreme Court. The justices recently delayed a decision on whether to take up the reporters' case after being told a settlement was near.
Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, called the payment unusual and perhaps unprecedented.
''I'm certainly not happy about this, but I'm not sure I could have dreamed up a better result,'' Dalglish said. ''On the positive side, it appears that this result will allow these reporters to continue to protect their sources.''
The settlement underscores the need for a federal law that would shield reporters from having to disclose their sources, she said.
作者：dck 在 罕见奇谈 发贴, 来自 http://www.hjclub.org |
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