Court to set precedent on whether journalists should have to disclose sources
Should journalists have to disclose their source of information to the police or courts? In the Czech Republic two journalists working for the most popular daily, Mlada Fronta Dnes, were pardoned by President Vaclav Havel on Tuesday, after the president intervened in a controversial court case against them. Daniela Lazarova has more:
The two had been charged with knowingly failing to prevent a criminal offence, after refusing to disclose the name of the informant. Their source had claimed a senior government adviser was involved in a campaign to discredit a popular politician. The story erupted into a major government scandal, and it was the Czech government itself which filed charges against them. The two journalists themselves, while thanking President Havel, insist they've been charged unlawfully, and say the proceedings must go on until they've been fully vindicated by an independent court.
Jan Culik is a Lecturer in Media Studies at Glasgow University, and earlier today I asked him for his thoughts on the affair:
