The sources are held by the journalists.
The journalists will face prison if they do not comply with the court order to turn over their sources.
I guess the key here is the he wants to show that it was done with malice. It seems, unlike in other countries/jurisdictions, a defamation lawsuit requires proving malice. So one way to prove it would be to show that whatever sources the journalists had definitely did not indicate the governor was embezzling, but the CEO claimed he did. Therefore, she did it with malice? It's quite complicated to follow.
So what gives, does the governor feel pretty confident he is innocent and sources won't show anything? What if he sources reveal he did embezzle? Or, does he know the source materials already, and what's in them, if someone leaked them to him or his lawyers, and now he wants to open them up in a legal way to be used as evidence. Can't say, "we found outside the court house, they feel of the truck".
They are not being sued as far as I can tell. The lawsuit is against the CEO and her company (Mississippi Today), but the court has ordered the sources to be turned over and that is held by the journalists who face prison if they do not comply with the court.
>So one way to prove it would be to show that whatever sources the journalists had definitely did not indicate the governor was embezzling, but the CEO claimed he did. Therefore, she did it with malice? It's quite complicated to follow.
Knowingly lying can arguably be an act of malice, especially if your job description is about reporting the facts. Thus the demand to see the sources, which given the argument isn't entirely unreasonable but obviously conflicts with keeping sources in confidence.
We'll see what the higher courts say, I guess.
Oh I see now. They mentioned "one of us going to prison" but I think that's probably just to make a point.
They are, in fact, being sued.
The reporter named in the article is Anna Wolfe, the editor is Adam Ganucheau, the CEO is Mary Margaret White; the named defendants in Bryant's lawsuit [0] are Deep South Today d/b/a Mississippi Today, Mary Margaret White, Adam Ganucheau & Anna Wolfe.
[0] PDF: https://www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024...
Noticed they demanded a jury trial. I guess his lawyer feels pretty confident the guy is either innocent (seems doubtful) or that they'll be able to get a jury to go along ideological party lines.