The Story of a Persecuted Journalist

My name is Matthew Cooper. Few know me from Columbia University.  Some know me from my time writing at Time magazine, but most people know because of my involvement in the Valerie Plame CIA leak investigation, where Judith Miller, a New York Times reporter, and I were held in contempt of court and threatened with imprisonment for refusing to testify before the Grand Jury.  We fought the case from the district to the Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court declined our appeal of the contempt of court finding.  On June 29, 2005, Federal judge, Thomas F. Hogan, gave us one week to comply with the Grand Jury order to testify or face the maximum penalty, 18 months in prison. I understand that the involvement of national security and the grand jury might have altered our results, but I continue to stand in my belief that there needs to be a set legislation. As a journalist, what promise of anonymity can I give my sources without set understanding of when I will be forced to divulge information? I can’t wait till legislation is no longer pending in Congress to enact a federal shield law for confidential sources.
I was proud of how Time magazine stood behind me.   My Editor in Chief, Norman Pearlstine, issued a statement on June 30, 2005 titled, “Statement of Time Inc. on Matthew Cooper Case.” He said, "The First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press, including the right to gather information of interest to the public and, where necessary, to protect the confidentiality of sources.” I do not feel that the First Amendment “grantees” the press those rights, though I would support having those rights granted and protected. I did agree with him as he said, “In declining to review the important issues presented by this case, we believe that the Supreme Court has limited press freedom in ways that will have a chilling effect on our work and that may damage the free flow of information that is so necessary in a democratic society.”
I was quoted saying "I went to bed ready to accept the sanctions for not testifying.” I agreed to testify on July 6, 2005 regarding conversations with Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Jr., chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, after having received Libby's specific permission to testify.  My source was identified as Karl Rove which was revealed in The New York Times article released July 7, 2005 by Adam Liptak and David Johnston titled, "A Reporter Jailed: The Overview: Reporter Jailed After Refusing to Name Source." That was confirmed by Rove's lawyer in an article by Machael Isikoff in Newsweek, July 18, 2005 titled, "Matt Cooper's Source: What Karl Rove Told Time Magazine's Reporter." On July 25, 2005, I wrote my experience and opinions in a Time magazine article titled "What I Told The Grand Jury."   As I recapped on the situation, I feel I would do things over very similarly.  I currently work as a blog reporter for Talking Points Memo.