Reporters Held in Contempt in Wen Ho Lee Suit

Harry Mok
June 29, 2005

A federal appeals court upheld civil contempt findings against reporters whose confidential sources pointed to scientist Wen Ho Lee as a possible spy.

I'm a little torn here bacause as a journalist I believe reporters shouldn't be compelled to reveal sources. However, Lee was totally screwed over by the government and the media that cow-towed to whatever the government said about Lee without really checking it out, as journalists are supposed to do.

Helen Zia's book,My Country Versus Me, paints a sympathetic picture of Lee and how he came to be the most dangerous spy suspect ever, until all espionage charges were dropped against him.

A Convenient Spy: Wen Ho Lee and the Politics of Nuclear Espionage, I haven't read, but from the descriptions, it is not as sympathetic to Lee's cause.

Maybe we'll never know what really happened and where those missing data tapes are. Maybe Lee was a spy. In any event, the whole case showed how easily Asian Americans are stereotyped and how racial profiling can proliferate in the media.

Contributor: 

Harry Mok

Editor in chief

Editor in Chief Harry Mok wrote about growing up on a Chinese vegetable farm for the second issue of Hyphen and has been a volunteer editor since 2004. As a board member of the San Francisco and New York chapters of the Asian American Journalists Association, Harry has recruited and organized events for student members. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also a graduate student instructor in the Asian American Studies Department.

Comments

Comments

david wrote on Thu, 07/28/2005 - 10:04pm
Jesus, quit being such a pussy. its people like you that have to "kid glove" the whole world and screw it up for the rest of us. quit trying to save the world from t-mobile commercials, donate money to the homeless, work in a shelter, make an effort to help someone, PICK A MEANINGFUL CAUSE! sissy!
david's fan wrote on Fri, 07/29/2005 - 6:02pm
Only if you'll stop acting like a resentful brat. I guess in your enlightened opinion, your definition of a "MEANINGFUL CAUSE" is accidentally stumbling across this site while snooping around for pictures of Asian women (or men - I don't want to make any assumptions, David.), and ridiculing the real worries and sufferings of real people. I guess the government's campaign to destroy an American citizen's career and reputation based on racial profiling is not a "meaningful" problem. Do only the things you get obsessed about count as "meaningful." The cancellation of 'Saved by the Bell'? The outrageous prices in animal porn? Your inability to hold onto friendships with intelligent people? I don't know you, so I can only speculate. I'm sure you're leading the world in the dedication to "meaningful causes" (and not heavy boy-on-goat action). Quit being a prick.