The Washington times., 1929-11-08
PLEDGE AS GOOD
AS BOND, SAYS
EDITOR
Continued From First eags'

NkOA1b44AuCA C4OLA = oS 6S -
possible for them to obtain en-
ployment on other newspapers.
The Judge before whom they
were arraigned in contempt in
sisted that they should break
their pledges. He said the infor-
nation they received was not
privileged. They did not stand
in the same position as a priest in
the confessional or lawyer. Very
much to their credit, these re-
porterS refused to be intimidated
by the court, and so were ordered
to Jail, with the warning that, If
they did not purge themselves Of
contempt by violating their words
Of honor, they would remain in
definitely in 1r1rance
Another judge less narrow on
Friday, however, signed an appli-
cation fo~ their release on habeas
corpus, and there is to be an
appeal from the decision of the
original judge, with the Hearst
newspapers enlisted in a fight to
a finish to maintain ''o~'~ stand.
We hope that ~ -''st news
papers will - in keeping the
reporters out of Jail. The con
tention of His Honor was that
any person who knows that a
law is being violated is under an
obligation tn ~eveal it when called
upon by a court to do so. That,
perhaps, is true with aspect to
most crimes. But it is absurd for
q court to insist that newspaper
men of honor shall tu2 > Their
informants, serving ther- in the
exposure of lax enforcement OF
the law, when millions of Amerl-
cans refuse to =" so, and many
Judges see r~h%ing wrong them.
selves in participating or wink
ing at violations of the obnoxious
and unpopular Vc'~t"" act.
The Schenectady Gazette:
A PLEDGE AS GOOD AS A
BOND
Three Washington reporters
have been sentenced to Jail be-
cause they refused to answer GER
tain question before the Grand
Jury there. When under exam
ination they answered everything
asked Of them, with the exception
that they refused to divulge the
source of their information.
This is a situation very com
mon in the newspaper world. 1t
is recognized legally that a physi-
clan or pastor can treat certain
information coming to him as
confidential and may refuse to
disclose it. Among journalists
an identical condition exists.
Those connected with news
papers recognize the confidential
aspect of some information, and
every real newspaper man con
siderS himself under an obliga
tion to respect this. In dealing
with them an informant merely
has to say ''This is confidential
and he may rest assured his
wishes will be observed.
There are some who fail to re
spect a confidence--but when de
tected they become outcasts to
the profession. Of all rules taught
to newspaper men probably the
strongest is, do not violate a
confidence"
Knowing this, we have the Ut
most sympathy for these three
Washington men sentenced to
jail. They are living up to the
highest traditions of their pro-
feSsion. They are doing nothing
contrary to public policy-for
they could not have cleaned the
information in question if they
had not given pledge of secrecy
to their informants.
Were the promise of a news
papernan to be treated lightly,
as something to be broken even
under court direction, the profes.
sion would hapidly fall from the
high place it occupies in our pub
lie life.
I'll Ell ~