I got wind of this story two days late, and I can’t believe it.
Sure, I, like the rest of us, would love to know who leaked the secret grand jury testimony in the steroids case (Who wouldn’t?). But if the source(s) hadn’t been anonymous and hadn’t trusted these reporters, there would’ve been no leak (and there would’ve been many fewer pieces of steroid-related news to debate).
They can’t put Mark Fainaru-Wada in jail over this. He’s a journalistic staple, especially to the San Francisco Chronicle. Lance Williams, too.
Issuing reporters subpoenas probably won’t make fewer journalists pursue the investigative reporting track, but even with the Judith Millers out there, it hurts to see such a thing happen to such quality reporters who have received awards for their groundbreaking work. And at this time, the work really does matter when the discussion centers on current home run records. Sure, Ryan Howard could erase Barry Bonds’ single-season, asterisk-laden, home run record soon enough, but it’s not happening just yet. There’s also Hank Aaron’s home run record that could be broken within the next 365 days by Barry Bonds. Without Fainaru-Wada and Williams, many would be thinking today that Barry Bonds is clean.
