TMZ's Records In Mel Gibson Case Subpoenaed

Los Angeles authorities filed a search warrant seeking TMZ's bank records.  Investigators are trying to uncover who leaked the sherrif's report of Mel Gibson's drunk driving arrest to them.

"I feel violated as a reporter and a citizen," TMZ's founder, Harvey Levin said.  "This is a frontal attack on the First Amendment. . . . The only reason they're doing this is that they got embarrassed. They are motivated by revenge. It is an outrage." 

Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for Sheriff Lee Baca, said the 2006 warrant for Levin's phone records was necessary as part of an investigation into who gave Levin part of a sheriff's report that detailed Gibson's conduct. Whitmore noted that a judge had approved the warrant. "The Sheriff's Office believes in and embraces the First Amendment," Whitmore said. "This is not done lightly. We're in the business of doing things legally. . . . Unfortunately, it ended up involving Mr. Levin."

TMZ has acknowledged for paying for tips in the past, but so far no evidence has come up that they payed for anything related to Gibson.  Levin said that he is consulting his lawyers and that "this is not going to go away."  

Although some (me!) would consider TMZ a tabloid, many consider it journalism.  Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said she considers Levin a journalist, and one whose rights were violated.  The search warrants violate the federal Privacy Protection Act of 1980, Dalglish said. That law, she said, "makes it illegal to execute a search warrant of news gathering material unless you are investigating the reporter himself or herself for breaking the law, not in a leak investigation."  

And all this happens right after Mel's record is wiped clean, and he is about to become a dad, for the 8th time, with his girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva.

source 

Comments

[TwoBusy]

My takeaway:

1. Tabloid journalism is still journalism.

2. Mel Gibson is still a massive tool.