Washington and Lee University
Locy received three awards including the John Aubuchon Freedom of the Press Award from the National Press Club and the First Amendment Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for defying a federal district judge's order to reveal the names of confidential sources for stories when she was covering the Justice Department for USA Today in 2001 and 2002. The stories in question were about the 2001 anthrax attacks, which killed five people. Unidentified sources had told several reporters, including Locy, that former Army scientist Steven Hatfill was a possible suspect. A federal appeals court has vacated the contempt order against Locy.
In her remarks, Locy described that case in detail and her role in it. She expressed her concern about the ability of journalism to deal with civil lawsuits given the tenuous state of newspapers' financial status.
Said Locy: "If judges continue to allow privacy cases to be used against the news media, I worry that editors and publishers will avoid covering the tough story, the ongoing criminal investigation, out of fear that somewhere down the line a civil lawsuit will be filed and their reporters will be dragged into the case like I was."
