ORLANDO, Fla. — A former and three current Orlando Sentinel journalists do not have to hand over records relating to Florida Power & Light’s and other organizations’ possible involvement in the “ghost” candidate scheme to Eric Foglesong, a political consultant charged with falsifying campaign finance records, a judge ruled Wednesday.
In her ruling, Circuit Judge Donna McIntosh said Florida law makes clear that “professional journalists enjoy a qualified privilege” not to disclose their information, including the identity of any source, that they obtained while doing their jobs in gathering news.
She also dismissed Foglesong attorney’s argument that the documents held by the Sentinel journalists are relevant to his defense. The journalists are investigative reporter Annie Martin, columnist Scott Maxwell, content director for local news Jeff Weiner and former investigative reporter Jason Garcia, who left the paper a year ago.
