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U
S A 11. CONTEMPT AND SEDITIOUS LIBEL Every court has the authority to punish a person for contempt
if he willfully disobeys a lawful court order, contravenes its authority,
or impedes or frustrates the administration of justice. Journalists can be held in contempt of court if, for instance,
they refuse a judicial order to disclose a confidential source or
to refrain from publishing or broadcasting information. A recent case involved CNN, which was convicted of criminal
contempt of court for airing recordings of Manuel Noriega?s jail
house phone conversations with his lawyers. A federal judge found
the network guilty of willfully violating his order not to broadcast
the telephone calls. The judge fined the network and ordered it
to admit wrongdoing. Currently, most jurisdictions have repealed seditious libel
statutes as restraining the possibility of openly criticizing the
government.
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