It's (Judith) Miller time

Someone once came up to me and said: "You know, Corbett, reporters and used-car salesmen are the most obnoxious creatures on earth." Then without catching his breath, he bellowed," and you should apologize to all the car salesmen."
Well, today, there won't be any apology, thanks to New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who stood up to the United States government and defied their order to reveal her confidential sources in the CIA operative identity showdown.
Miller and another reporter, Time Magazine's Matthew Cooper, were caught up in a dilemma about their sources in the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. Somehow, famed columnist and TV personality Robert Novak is also mixed up in the rabble.
In yesterday's AP story, Cooper relented and told U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan that he would now cooperate in the investigation. It seems the confidential source "freed" Cooper of his confidentiality stand just before yesterday's testimony.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was particularly harsh on Miller after the Times scribe refused to name her source. Fitzgerald stated "we can't have 50,000 journalists" each making their own decision about whether to reveal sources. Fitzgerald went on to say, "we cannot tolerate that. We are trying to get to the bottom of whether a crime was committed and by whom."
As someone who has been involved in an organization called Investigative Day for a number of years now, I view the Miller-Cooper case as a key test of press freedom and there have been rallies throughout the U.S. in support of reporters' "confidentiality" rights. Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia have shield laws which, supposedly, protect reporters from having to identify their confidential sources.
Incidentally, Cooper won't have to spend any time behind bars, but Miller was jailed immediately.
Canada has also had the "Reporter vs. Them" confrontation..
In 1995, Ken Peters of the Hamilton Spectator became wrapped up in a story about problems in a nursing home and a trial resulted after its operators filed a lawuit against the City of Hamilton and Halton Region. During the trial, according to the CBC News story, Peters was asked to identify a third person who was present when Peters' source gave him certain documents about high mortality rates and about the supposed recycling of food. Peters refused and as a result he was fined $31,600 after being found guilty of contempt of court.
Fortunately, for reporter Peters, the Spectator picked up the hefty tab.
It seems Peters was just following the Canadian Association of Journalists guidelines, which "are set to promote journalistic excellence among its members and to encourage investigative journalism."
Peters was later quoted as saying, "The stories that I did, I like to think saved lives, certainly prolonged them. They are among the most important I feel I've done as a working journalist." And then he added, "To roll on a confidential source, who you've given your word to, I would find it very difficult to walk back in a newsroom, after having done that."
Another reporter who agrees it is vital for journalists to maintain their integrity is Andrew McIntosh of the National Post. "If I break my deal with confidential sources, that's the day I stop doing my job, because no will trust me anymore," he has been quoted.

A BEAR OF A PROBLEM: In early June, Isabelle Dube, a well-known 36-year-old mountain bike racer from Canmore, Alberta, was killed by a grizzly bear while running with two friends near the Silver Tip Golf Course. Her friends backed away, but Dube climbed up a tree. It didn't help as Isabelle was mauled to death. Since then there have been an outpouring of possible solutions to the beastly problem; with the latest being to close a number of trails to people. The public will no longer be allowed on certain trails in Kananaskis, the Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park and areas around the Canmore Nordic Centre. "It's a decade or two overdue," said wildlife expert Stephen Herrero. "It will definitely address the issue of providing greater safety and security for sensitive wildlife species, like grizzly bears. "And, at the same time, it provides for defined recreational opportunities for people in a more safe context." Meanwhile, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development spokesperson Dave Ealey said local Fish and Wildlife officers, who had investigated the incident, had not confirmed a date to release findings. He added that the public should not expect a summary report released on the attack. Stay tuned for further Bear Reports.

GOOD OL' BOY FROM DOWN HOME: George Canyon, the great Canadian singer who will perform at the Hunting Hawk Winery amphitheatre on Thursday, July 14, is another Maritimer who has made "good." Runner-up on Nashville Star, ECMA Entertainer of the Year, hails from Pictou County, Nova Scotia. Now, why does that sound familiar? Now, I know, during the Big One, WWII, the Corbetts lived in Pictou County, ages before Canyon made his stage debut. Hey, George, do you give singing lessons?

WHAT'S THAT RINGING IN MY EARS? Joe DeFries from the Mennonite Church in Abbotsford is definitely a glutton for punishment and the choir leader set an unofficial world record yesterday morning for "countinuous bellringing by playing musical handbells for 24 hours straight." Ding-Dong Joe was performing at a convention of English handbell ringers in Penticton. To prepare for the Guinness Book of World Records attempt, DeFries lost 52 pounds, followed a stringent diet and also had plenty of strenous exercise for the hands. Aren't you glad, you asked?