Time Magazine has decided to turn over notes on confidential sources in the Vaerie Plame case. A grand jury is trying to figure out who in the Bush White House leaked information to the media a couple of years ago that Ms Plame was a CIA agent. One of the reporters the grand jury called was Time reporter Matthew Cooper.
Mr Cooper never wrote any article based on the information -- but a prosecutor demanded he give up his source. Mr Cooper refused and, after the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal, was facing jail time in a week.
A judge ordered Time to turn over the notes instead. Mr Cooper had asked Time not to. But the move will prevent him from serving time.
New York Times reporter Judith Miller also faces 120 days in jail for refusing to give up her source. She never wrote a story about the case either. Commentator Robert Novak first used the information in a column identifying Valarie Plame as a CIA agent. He never testified before the grand jury and faces no threat of jail time. (NYT)
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