A decision by the Supreme Court of Canada handed down Friday may only get
passing attention from most Canadians, but for those within the fifth estate
it represents a troubling turn in their profession.
The court has decided that journalists have no constitutional right to
protect confidential sources, ruling 8-1 against the National Post in a
decade-old case dealing with a possibly forged document linked to the
Shawinigate scandal of the former Liberal government of Jean Chretien.
For those who don't remember, Shawinigate was a 1990s political scandal in
which Chretien was accused of profiting from real estate deals in his Quebec
riding.
While most Canadians couldn't care less about this decision, the public
often relies on the media to serve as the whistle-blower when it comes to
rooting out corruption in government and other matters.
Protecting a source is not something reporters take lightly, since it is a
reporter's sacred responsibilities. It is to us what the Hippocratic oath is
to doctors. If a source comes to a reporter and will spill his or her guts
in return for protection, it's up to the reporter to do just that. Until
now, most journalists could do so without fear of going to jail.
The National Post argued that turning over the material provided to a
reporter by a confidential source would compromise the identity of that
source since it would be tested for DNA and fingerprints. The court, on the
other hand, said journalists have no constitutional immunity to protect
sources and any such claims would have to be weighed on a case-by-case
basis. In this case, it said the right of police to investigate a potential
crime outweighs the newspaper's right to protect a source.
That's all well in good, but the public has come to rely on the media to
live up to its ideals and that includes protecting those with important
information and telling stories that need to be told. If those
whistleblowers feel they can't be protected they may be hesitant to come
forward, making it even more difficult to expose wrongdoing in the halls of
power.
