Newspaper publishers and journalists have expressed disappointment at the High Court's decision to order two Irish Timesjournalists to disclose the source of an article about payments to Bertie Ahern, writes Paul Cullen.
Irish TimesEditor Geraldine Kennedy said she was considering the implications of the court's decision to order herself and Public Affairs Correspondent Colm Keena to answer planning tribunal questions.
The newspaper has until November 9th to decide on an appeal to the Supreme Court. If the decision is not appealed, the two journalists will be called to appear before the tribunal to answer questions on the source of the information about payments to Mr Ahern when he was minister for finance in 1993.
If they refuse to answer, the tribunal may apply to seek whatever orders the court considers "appropriate". It will be open to the tribunal to apply to have the journalists found in contempt and perhaps jailed or fined.
The court found The Irish Times'sprivilege against disclosure of sources in this case was "overwhelmingly outweighed" by the need to preserve public confidence in the tribunal. It said the journalists' destruction of the documents on which the article was based was "a manner of proceeding" that was "anathema to the rule of law and an affront to democratic order".
Ms Kennedy said: "the protection of sources goes to the core of what journalism is about. It is disappointing that the issue of public interest seemed to receive no weighting in the judgment."
The National Newspapers of Ireland and the National Union of Journalists also expressed concern.