Bloomberg contests U.S. court order for info from reporters' sources
By Tom Hals WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - Media company Bloomberg LP has asked a U.S. judge to stay an order requiring more than 100 people to disclose any information they shared with its reporters regarding bankrupt mining company Molycorp Inc, arguing the order inhibits Bloomberg's free speech rights. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi in Wilmington, Delaware last week ordered 123 people to disclose by the end of Tuesday their contacts with Bloomberg reporters regarding Molycorp over the prior 60 days. Bloomberg has reported, citing unidentified sources, that a confidential mediation ordered by Sontchi failed to produce a consensual plan to end the bankruptcy of the largest U.S. maker of rare earth materials used in military equipment. "As currently drafted, the order is overly broad and vague and therefore unconstitutionally infringes upon, and impermissibly chills, the First Amendment rights of Bloomberg, any sources it may have regarding Molycorp, and the public," Bloomberg's attorney said in court papers filed Friday. The media organization asked Sontchi to stay his order and to reconsider it. The company asked to present its arguments at a hearing at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Molycorp and its creditors and other parties were ordered by Sontchi into confidential mediation in November. Beginning in December, Bloomberg published three articles that described efforts to find a buyer for Molycorp. The articles, by Jodi Xu Klein, and one that included reporting by Steven Church and Fion Li, cited unidentified sources. Bloomberg's court filing said the order casts too broad a net. It said the judge has ordered many individuals to give information even though their discussions with Bloomberg journalists may have had nothing to do with the Molycorp bankruptcy. Sontchi's order seeking the sources of those stories required lawyers, bankers, investors, advisers and their representatives to identify all information concerning Molycorp that was communicated to Bloomberg. The judge also required those covered by the order to disclose if they know who provided information to Bloomberg. The judge's order said the declarations would be sealed by shared with key parties. The journalists' organization Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said in a letter to Sontchi that his order would have consequences beyond Molycorp's bankruptcy. "The repercussions from a single legal demand affect not just the work of the targeted journalist but all other journalists whose sources will hesitate and hold back information on matters of public concern, such as the operation of the judicial system," the group said. (Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by David Gregorio)
