The Oregonian
Sept. 24, 2006
Excerpt:
All the wrong people are being severely
punished for the steroid scandal that has tarnished Major League
Baseball and other sports.
Who's paying the price? Not the doctors who created the illegal
substances or the trainers who supplied and administered them. Not the
famous home-run sluggers who took them. Not the league officials who
knew it was happening and looked the other way.
No, the men now facing at least 18 months in jail in the case of the
Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroid scandal are the two newspaper
reporters who have done more than anyone else to reveal the truth about
steroids, prompt a congressional probe and force baseball and other
sports to adopt serious drug-testing policies.
On Thursday, a federal judge ordered Lance Williams and Mark
Fainaru-Wada jailed for contempt of court, pending an appeal, after the
reporters refused to testify about who leaked them secret grand jury
testimony given by Barry Bonds and other athletes.
Once again, a federal court is jailing the messengers. Like the case of
Judith Miller, The New York Times reporter jailed for refusing to tell
prosecutors about leaked information, Williams and Fainaru-Wada are
being imprisoned for doing their jobs. It is now obvious that the U.S.
Department of Justice has deliberately chosen to criminalize
investigative journalism.
