Ethic behaviour gets you in Jail in the US

There are many things wrong with the US (as any other country), but one thing that the US can be proud of (as other countries) is the freedom of the press and an effective legal system to protect that freedom.

The right of free-speech is itself protected in the constitution and is one of the pillars of US Democracy. Freedom of the press is another pillar of US Democracy, but once people become journalists their responsibilities increase. There is a well-working system in the US to protect responsible journalists. The same system also protects against unfounded accusations, as journalists can be prosecuted if they publish false information.

One of the pillars of the freedom of the press is the "protection" of anonymous sources. Why is this important? One good reason is that if the sources were not protected by the journalists people would certainly not line up to talk to them (even of-the-record) because their heads could roll (figuratively speaking of course ... at least in some countries). Thanks to this rule of protecting anonymous sources from exposure the journalists can obtain information that they can later confirm (if they are competent!) and publish in their newspapers or other news outlets.

Thanks to this rule we get important news that can be decisive in protecting and even improving Democracy. Now, in the US (the self-proclaimed freedom country) journalists are being persecuted for following that important rule of protecting their sources. If these journalists are sent to jail for not revealing the sources of the (relevant and true) information then Democracy will lose and the US will take one more step to become another Cuba or another China or another Russia or another Zimbabwe...(1)


(1) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/10/opinion/10kris.html?oref=login