Getty Image
Journalist Anna Wolfe won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on the ongoing State of Mississippi welfare fraud scandal allegedly involving Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre.
Today she is facing the possibility of having to go to prison after being sued for defamation by the Mississippi’s former governor Phil Bryant.
According to NBC News, Wolfe and her editor, Adam Ganucheau, have been ordered by a judge to turn over files containing the names of their confidential sources.
They are refusing to do so, saying that if they did it would be a huge blow to journalism.
“If one of us goes to jail, we will be the first person to go to jail in the Mississippi welfare scandal,” Wolfe told NBC News. “How can I make promises to sources that I’m going to keep them confidential if this is possible?”
In response to the court order, Wolfe and Ganucheau’s employer Mississippi Today is asking the state Supreme Court to overturn it.
Just one problem: Four of the nine Mississippi Supreme Court judges were appointed by, wait for it, Mississippi’s former governor Phil Bryant.
“A former governor of our state — a central subject of our Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporting — filed a motion on Tuesday asking a judge to find our newsroom in contempt of court because we refused to turn over our notes and sources to him,” Ganucheau recently wrote in a New York Times op-ed. “Breaching the confidentiality of sources violates one of the most sacred trusts — and breaks one of the most vital tools — in investigative journalism. No serious news organization would agree to this demand.”
Ganucheau continued, “His lawsuit does not challenge the accuracy of the reporting, but Mr. Bryant has made clear he wants everything we’ve got related to our acclaimed investigation that revealed the depths of his involvement in the state’s welfare scandal.
“That scandal featured prominent Mississippi leaders and celebrities who were among those who benefited from at least $77 million in misspent funds — federal grant money intended to help the poorest residents of America’s poorest state.”
Brett Favre, who still has not been charged with any crimes, refused to turn over his tax returns and objected to all 27 requests from Mississippi Department of Human Services lawyers last October.