In the film Nothing But the Truth, reporter Rachel Armstrong gets put in jail for outing a CIA agent and refusing to reveal her source. Rachel refuses to reveal her source because she believes that revealing her confidential source violates the First Amendment. Rachel is determined to make a stand in her belief that if the government takes away the freedom of the press to withhold sources then the government is essentially controlling the media. If sources cannot be kept confidential and reporters are put in jail/prison for not revealing them then the power lies with the government. The press is supposed to check and balance the government’s power and by punishing reporters for not revealing sources then it limits the checking and balance of the government’s internal actions.
On the other hand, it is not always safe for the public to have information on confidential issues. Sometimes sources do need to be revealing for national security purposes. In that case, when it is dealing with the security of a large amount of people the government should be able to take action when dealing with the media.
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires that records held by the government should be available to the public. One of the many exemptions to FOIA is that it does not apply when dealing with national security. It is understandable for this act to take place if it means that lives will be in danger if certain information is revealed to the public. The gray area lies within what makes an issue national security or not.
I think that in most cases not revealing a source is not a national security issue. If a story surfaces that reveals a corrupt issue in the government, I think the media should have the power to not reveal their source and therefore not be put in jail for bringing to light corruption. I think that this should be a factor when dealing with newsgathering and confidential sources.
I think that what Rachel did was honorable and I agree with her actions to a certain point. She took a stand and did what was right but in the long run she hurt her family and nothing ended up changing. I would have made a deal to reveal the source (the little girl) and kept her name confidential to everyone except the CIA.
This issue has a huge impact on journalism because it gives the government the power to control what the press does. Although sometimes for good reason, the FOIA exemptions could deter journalists from investigating corrupt government issues that the public has the right to know about.