Defending the First
Amendment and protecting confidential
sources
Lawrence Attorney
was confidential source
Tom Duggan
The most important function a newspaper
or media outlet can perform is to serve
as a watchdog for the way taxpayers
dollars are spent in their community and
expose information that public officials
and those who do business with them
conspire to conceal.
As such, one of the most critical tools
any journalist has in gathering
information for such news stories is the
ability to rely on confidential sources
who would otherwise never come forward
fearing political retribution or even
physical harm for leaking such
information to the press.
The use of such sources are a tool of the
trade which enables the media to shine a
bright light on public corruption,
backroom political deal-making and
outright lying by public officials
whether they be local or national
political figures.
Without confidential sources, the public
would never have learned about Watergate,
Valerie Plame and Joe Wilsons role
in concealing Saddam Husseins
nuclear weapons programs, or police
corruption in big cities going back two
hundred years.
But, remaining anonymous as a
confidential source is not a legal right
nor is it an absolute privilege. There is
no ethics board for journalists dictating
a reporters conduct in dealing with
a confidential source. How, and in what
manner a reporter deals with such sources
is solely up to the reporters themselves
or the newspaper they work for.
In my ten year as a journalist, I have
never had to reveal the name of a
confidential source. Now, someone who is
a confidential source himself has put me
in a position where I have no choice,
because that source has filed a
lawsuit demanding that I reveal other
confidential sources in different story.
You see, last January,
Lawrences workers
compensation attorney William DiAdamo
gave us privileged information about a
settlement between the city and former
Assistant City Clerk Jennifer Padellaro.
Padellaro had sued the city after the Jim
McGravey/Patrick Blanchette sex and
pornography scandal (and cover up) that
lead to McGraveys abrupt
resignation and Blanchette targeting
Padellaro for retribution for coming
forward against his friend.
Padellaro
settlement story (January 08)
Paying
Attention! (February '08) The real
disgrace in the Padellaro Settlement
Even though I had to deal with an
onslaught of requests by Assistant City
Attorney Richard DAgastino to
reveal the leak in the
Padellaro settlement story (as well as
other city matters), I protected DiAdamo
at every turn. After all, DiAdamo was not
only our source in the Padellaro/McGravey
story, but had fed us information about
other cases as well. Why would I want to
kill the goose that lays golden eggs?
Besides, as a reporter I certainly do not
want to send the message to future,
potential sources that they have to worry
about their identity being revealed as
soon as someone applies a little
political or legal pressure.
Now, even though I went to the mat for
DiAdamo when he gave us a privileged news
story, DiAdamo has filed a lawsuit
against this newspaper (and me
personally) to force us to reveal our
sources in a story that involved him.
Imagine the nerve?
Now imagine the irony
all the
while Attorney DiAdamo enjoys the
protection of The Valley Patriot as a
confidential source, he is using the
court system to try and strip away that
protection from others. Talk about a
lapse of ethics and judgement. I firmly
believe that anyone who enjoys the
protections of this newspaper as a
confidential source should never have to
wonder or worry if their identity will be
revealed. But when a confidential source
himself violates the spirit of the very
system he is protected by, then he has
lost the privilege of continuing to
remain anonymous.
I am baffled as to why an Attorney who
has so much to lose would declare war on
me or this newspaper given the
substantial amount of information
available that could result in serous
legal trouble for him and his law office.
Yet he has.
And while this is not a fight that I or
the board of The Valley Patriot wanted,
it is not a fight we will run away from
either.
Just imagine, the Diadamo Law office and
Trust which made millions (MILLIONS!) of
dollars on the public trough is now
feverishly trying to silence the free
speech of those who own and those who
contribute to our newspaper and demanding
payment for our refusal to do so. We will
not be intimidated or bullied into
silence by those who make millions of
dollars from the taxpayers coffers. We
will continue to ask questions and
investigate the web of actions involving
the DiAdamo Law Office (and Trust)
and the taxpayers dollars they
receive as rent and fees.
Now that the cat is out of the bag and
DiAdamo is pushing for a public trial we
must now spend thousands of dollars to
prepare for and fight this suit. But we
cant do it alone. As everyone
knows, whether you win or lose a lawsuit,
the cost of fighting one can financially
cripple any person or business. And since
we are going up against a law office that
has unlimited resources to fight this
battle we must now raise funds to protect
our sources and our newspaper.
Thats why we have set up the Valley
Patriot Legal Defense Fund and will be
scheduling fundraisers to offset the
legal and court costs associated with
fighting lawsuits like this. And we could
certainly use your help. When any news
entity, especially small local newspapers
are forced to spend enormous amounts of
money fighting prolonged legal battles,
there is a real danger that such a small
newspaper may eventually become unable to
absorb those costs.
So, this is how you can help: If you
believe in the first amendment and the
right of free speech: the right of
journalists to protect their sources, or
if you believe that the Valley Patriot
has provided a legitimate public service
by breaking news stories and giving
people in the community a voice when
other media outlets refuse to do so; if
you appreciate the role we have played in
providing a vehicle by which information
and ideas can be expressed and debated, I
would ask you to make a donation of any
amount to The Valley Patriot Legal
Defense Fund.
You can mail your check to PO BOX 453,
North Andover MA 01843. Or you can donate
on-line with a credit card by visiting
the Valley Patriot website at
valleypatriot.com and clicking the paypal
icon. Stand up for free speech and a free
press and help us continue to expose
government waste and corruption, the
taxpayers dollars we save could be your
own.
Tom Duggan is the
president of Valley Patriot, Inc., a
former Lawrence School Committeeman, and
hosts the Paying Attention! Radio Program
on WCAP, 980AM, every Saturday afternoon
from 10am-noon. You can email your
comments to Tdugjr@aol.com .
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pictures and material are
(C) copyright, Valley Patriot, Inc., 2008
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