A federal judge ordered two San Francisco Chronicle reporters jailed Thursday, pending an appeal, for refusing to testify about who leaked them secret grand jury testimony from Barry Bonds and other elite athletes. Transcripts of the testimony of Bonds, Jason Giambi and others before a grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative were published by Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada. The grand jury was investigating the possible links between star atheletes and the company linked to a large steroid ring.
The two reporters have been ordered to sit in jail for 18 months, or until they reveal thier sources.
So much for our Freedom of the Press. Our reporters need to retain the ability to protect anonymous sources. The same type of anonymous sources that helped break the Watergate story, the Iran-Contra scandal, and the Clinton/Lewinsky sex scandal. And now the Barry Bonds/BALCO scandal. Our nation has been brought to its knees by the revelation that professional athletes may possibly have use performance enhancing drugs. How will we ever survive?
The real issue here is not the steroid use. That is a cultural phenomenon that will never completely go away, and we must find better ways to deal with it. The current systems of testing and fines simply does nothing to curb the increased use of steroids by high school atheletes.
The courts have put the wrong people in prison here. The reporters in this case did exactly what they were supposed to do. They had a big story with some juicy details about some of the sports world's biggest stars, and they printed it. They had information that indicated that cheating in professional sports was more widespread than previously thought, and that many individuals were making huge profits thru thier cheating, so these reporters printed the story. They did thier job.
The person who needs to sit in jail is the individual who leaked the sealed testimony to the reporters. That is the person who violated the law.But the governement needs to find a new way to discover that person's identity. The reporters need to remain off limits. The constitutional freedoms granted to the press must be maintained for the sake of all our remaining liberties.
Why is this all such a big deal? Who cares if a few athletes used steroids? Yeah, it sucks.. but its a part of our culture now. We just need to accept that it happens, while still doing what we can to prevent it. We should never encourage it, but we should not completely demonize those who give in to the pressure to do whatever it takes to compete and give the fans what they paid to see.
This is only such a big story because its centered around Baseball. The National Pasttime. It does not matter that more people watch football or NASCAR every week. Baseball is the symbol of America. And that symbol is a pretty accurate reflection of what this country represents. A large, diverse immigrant population. A massive national training and education system starting at the very earliest of ages. Outrageous ticket prices that most people can only afford on rare occasions. Hot dog and beer prices that few people can afford at any time. Eight Dollars for parking during the game. Multi-millionaire players who have no loyalty for thier team and will happily work for whoever offers the most money. Greedy owners who have no loyalty to the fans and will happily trade their best players to save a few bucks. A greedly league that will make any changes necessary to accomodate the corporate sponsors.
That is what we call our National Pasttime.
I do not hate baseball. I hate the way it is placed on a pedastle as a sacred object and used as a political prop during election years. Politicians throw out the first pitch for big games, but how many players on the team can they really name? Ask your local cab driver what he thinks about the local team, and you will most likely get more details than your brain can process.
Now ask that same cab driver what he thinks about this whole steroid mess, and you will get more great commentary. The problem is that the politicians and the prosecutors and the judges are not in touch with the man on the street. They see baseball as a buisness that must be preserved and proteced. The man on the street sees it as a game where the players should police themselves.
And the guys in the locker room? I think they could figure out there own way to deal with the cheaters, if we let them. Especially now that a few individuals have brought them all under the microscope.
