The following information is taken from Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press’ “Paying the Price: A recent census of reporters jailed or fined for refusing to testify” and from the First Amendment Center’s “Jailed & subpoenaed journalists — a historical timeline.”

• 1917, Robert E. Holliway of the St. Louis Republic was jailed for contempt of court after refusing to reveal the sources for his story, &quot7 True Bills are Voted in Coal Inquiry,&quot in which he reported that a grand jury returned seven previously unannounced indictments in an investigation of the coal industry.

• 1936, Martin Mooney, a reporter for the New York American, was called as a witness before a grand jury probing alleged violations of gambling and lottery laws after he wrote an article saying the grand jury’s investigations into these charges were ineffective. After refusing to answer questions and furnish the names and addresses of his sources on the grounds that they were confidential and privileged, Mooney was cited for contempt and jailed. The New York Court of Appeals upheld Mooney‟s contempt citation and further ruled that the decision to enact a shield law for reporters must be left up to the Legislature, not the courts.

• 1950, Reubin Clein, an editor for Miami Life magazine, refused to disclose the source of a leak about a grand jury probe of a city councilman accused of bribery. A trial court held the editor in contempt and sentenced him to 30 days in jail. Citing grand jury secrecy laws and the broad investigatory powers vested in grand juries under the state constitution, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the conviction and sentence, finding Clein had no privilege against revealing his source.

• 1958, Marie Torre, CBS. In Garland v. Torre, actress Judy Garland became the first litigant to face a formal First Amendment challenge to her demand for a journalist’s sources. Garland sued CBS for defamation, alleging that she was defamed by quotes from an unnamed network executive arising out of a New York Herald Tribune column written by Marie Torre. Torre testified at her deposition, but refused to disclose the identity of her source. The trial judge held the journalist in criminal contempt, sentenced her to 10 days in jail, but allowed her to remain free pending appeal. On appeal, Torre defended herself on First Amendment grounds. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant Torre a hearing and she served her 10-day jail sentence after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that even if the First Amendment were to provide some protection, the reporter must testify when the information sought goes to the heart of the plaintiff’s claim.

• 1970, Mark Knops, editor of the underground Madison (Wis.) Kaleidoscope, was sentenced to six months in jail for refusing to answer questions from a grand jury investigating a fire at Whitewater State University and a bombing at the University of Wisconsin that killed a young researcher.

• 1972, Newark (N.J.) Evening News reporter Peter Bridge was charged with contempt …read more

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