CONFIDENTIAL SOURCES REVEALED At a time when "Deep Throat" revealed the one fact that Woodward & Bernstein kept secret, and Judith Miller traded her jail cell for the witness stand, we have also seen a trend of legal rulings calling an end to protection for "confidential informants." Both lawyers and reporters seem split on the controversy of whether a "newsperson's privilege" should exist at all and, if so, to what extent the law should protect the privacy of sources who would otherwise remain silent. The scenario provides very fertile ground for hypotheticals and for inter-disciplinary debate among journalists and lawyers. Some journalists will fight to hide certain information from the public while their lawyers argue that protecting the privacy of sources is critical to uncovering the facts. Others, critical of Judith Miller's case, may express concern that a reporter's privilege merely provides a forum for public officials seeking to leak information and spin the facts to serve their own interests rather than those of the public. On Thursday, April 6, 2006, LNTV's Irwin Kramer will host a debate on this controversial issue at a dinner co-sponsored by alumni of the Columbia University School of Law and of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Appearing with Mr. Kramer, panelists include:

Thomas Penfield Jackson: United States District Judge (retired) Pete Williams: NBC News Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas: ABC News Justice Correspondent Manny Medrano: ABC News Supreme Court Correspondent Fred Graham: CourtTV Chief Anchor & Managing Editor Frank Sesno: Professor of Public Policy and Communication at George Mason University; former CNN Washington Bureau Chief Geneva Overholser: Professor of Journalism, University of Missouri; Past Chair, The Pulitzer Prize Board Tim Phelps: Washington Bureau Chief, Newsday

FOR MORE INFORMATION, GO TO THE SOURCE FOR LEGAL NEWS AND INFORMATION AT WWW.LEGALNEWS.TV!