Appeals court hears McDermott taped-call dispute

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON — A lawyer for U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott told a federal appeals court Tuesday that McDermott should not be punished for giving reporters access to an illegally taped telephone call involving House Republican leaders.

In arguments that evoked the Pentagon Papers and other press-freedom cases, lawyer Christopher Landau said McDermott, D-Seattle, had merely received the tape from a Florida couple and therefore had done nothing wrong.

A finding against McDermott could chill the media's ability to gather information on important public issues, Landau said. "It's hard to overstate the impact of the case on the media."

Lawyers for 18 news organizations — including ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, The Associated Press, The New York Times and The Washington Post — have filed a brief backing McDermott, who gave reporters a recording of a 1996 call involving then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003334249_jim01.html

[hughee99]

1. I know there will be a lot of support for

freedom of the press on this, but personally, I think this sets a disturbing precedent. As long as YOU don't obtain information illegally, it's okay to pass it on to anyone. I'm not saying that McDermott's a bad guy here, but I would like to see the courts send a message it's not okay to make public information that you knew was not obtained legally, even if you had nothing personally to do with gathering.

Yes, I will concede that it hurt the media's ability to gather information, but then so do all privacy laws.