Whitehouse Threatens Legal Action Against Reporter (posted December 12, 1999)

Rhode Island Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse raised eyebrows this week by threatening WJAR-TV investigative reporter Jim Taricani with legal action if the reporter showed Whitehouse embargoed legal documents during a "10 News Conference" interview. Taricani received the secret documents as part of a story the station plans to air concerning a criminal investigation. Rather than risk seeing the documents, which the Attorney General claims would violate an agreement he has not to inspect the information, Whitehouse sent the station's general manager a letter threatening legal action if the reporter attempted to give him the documents during the interview.

The threat angered Taricani who raised the subject during the "10 News Conference" broadcast and claimed the letter represented an effort on the Attorney General's part to intimidate the station. Taricani reminded Whitehouse of a reporter's First Amendment right to ask questions about any legal documents as part of the media's news-gathering function.

The confrontation is only the latest episode in a series of controversies between the Attorney General and members of the press. Earlier in the December 12th broadcast of "10 News Conference," Whitehouse refused to comment on a Providence Journal probe into allegations of credit card misuse at the state's Economic Development Corporation. When asked his opinion of the charges, Whitehouse went out of his way to avoid condemning the use of state credit cards for meals and alcohol by EDC staff members. A few months ago, Whitehouse got into political hot water by issuing a public records advisory opinion that open records advocates claimed favored police departments seeking to withhold information over news organizations who felt the material deserved to be made public.

It is unclear why rather than threatening the reporter with legal action, the Attorney General didn't simply refuse to look at the document. On top of previous controversies concerning Whitehouse's stance vis a vis the media, threatening an investigative journalist with legal action makes Whitehouse look like Rhode Island's version of Richard Nixon, a politician well-known for his poor relations with the media.