The Press: An End to Fishing

Earl Caldwell's challenge came at a time when the U.S. press community felt that Government investigators were using subpoenas far too liberally as a means of fishing through reporters' notes on the off chance of finding evidence of crime. Caldwell, a San Francisco-based black reporter for the New York Times, had been subpoenaed last Feb. 2 and ordered to appear before a federal grand jury investigating activities of the Black Panthers. He was directed to produce tape recordings and notes taken during Panther interviews. Caldwell not only objected to producing the material, he objected to appearing at all.

Caldwell had become a...

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