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Writer Who Braved Jail Wins First Herblock Award
The Newspaper Guild-CWA is presenting the first Herbert L. Block Award to Vanessa Leggett, the freelance journalist who served 168 days in a Texas prison after refusing a court order to surrender her notes for a true crime book on a high-profile homicide.
The award is named for the famed Washington Post political cartoonist, known professionally as Herblock, who died in October 2001 at the age of 91. It will be presented with other awards May 14 at a Guild banquet to raise funds for a trust that was started with $50,000 that Block left to TNG-CWA.
Leggett, 33, went to prison last July after refusing to give a federal grand jury notes from interviews in a case involving the shooting death of a Houston woman married to a millionaire bookie. Leggett and her attorneys argued that the state and federal constitutions protected her right as a journalist to shield her sources. But a U.S. District Court judge and an appellate court ruled that no such privilege existed in a criminal case.
Leggett believes the government tried to take advantage of her freelance status, noting that no other reporters who covered the story were subpoenaed. She was released in early January when the grand jury ended its investigation. However, a new grand jury may be appointed to probe further and Leggett could be sent back to prison if she doesn’t hand over the materials.
The TNG-CWA board resolved last fall to give the Block award to the person or organization who best demonstrated the values Block cherished: compassion for the weak and disadvantaged, a profound belief in free speech and assembly, defense of a vigorous free press and distrust of unbridled power.
“Vanessa Leggett’s courage in giving up her own freedom to fight for the fundamental principles of a free and independent press is the very essence of the values that drove Herblock,” TNG-CWA President Linda Foley said. “He cared deeply about civil liberties, about justice and fairness and he deftly used his talents to put the arrogant, elite and powerful in perspective. He would be exceedingly humble about an award with his name on it, but he would be proud that Ms. Leggett is its first recipient.”
Leggett said she’s humbled to receive the award and is grateful to the Guild for creating it in Herblock’s name. “I recall reading about Herblock’s death when I was in jail marveling at his contributions to journalism and history,” she said. “I can’t think of a more enduring and lively champion of the First Amendment than Herblock, whose work, for generations spanning a half century, came to represent the art of raising ‘bloody hell’ in the interest of press freedom.”
Leggett recently told the Columbia Journalism Review that she is “absolutely, more than ever” committed to her book, in spite of her prison experience and the risk that it may be repeated.
“I was treated as if I were a criminal, and a flight risk,” she told CJR. “If I was walking down the hall and guards approached, I couldn’t just stand and face them. I had to face the wall and stand staring at the wall until I was told I could turn around. But when it became apparent to me that the government’s actions in my case would have an effect on the press’s freedom to operate independently, that really just strengthened my resolve. I realized there was something larger than my sources and my book at stake.”
The award comes with a $5,000 check, an amount that may be increased in future years as Block’s trust grows. Block, who continued to draw cartoons for the Post until a few weeks before his death, had been a dues-paying member of The Newspaper Guild for 67 years, a record. In addition to the $50,000 gift to TNG international, Block willed another $50,000 to his local, the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild.
The award is named for the famed Washington Post political cartoonist, known professionally as Herblock, who died in October 2001 at the age of 91. It will be presented with other awards May 14 at a Guild banquet to raise funds for a trust that was started with $50,000 that Block left to TNG-CWA.
Leggett, 33, went to prison last July after refusing to give a federal grand jury notes from interviews in a case involving the shooting death of a Houston woman married to a millionaire bookie. Leggett and her attorneys argued that the state and federal constitutions protected her right as a journalist to shield her sources. But a U.S. District Court judge and an appellate court ruled that no such privilege existed in a criminal case.
Leggett believes the government tried to take advantage of her freelance status, noting that no other reporters who covered the story were subpoenaed. She was released in early January when the grand jury ended its investigation. However, a new grand jury may be appointed to probe further and Leggett could be sent back to prison if she doesn’t hand over the materials.
The TNG-CWA board resolved last fall to give the Block award to the person or organization who best demonstrated the values Block cherished: compassion for the weak and disadvantaged, a profound belief in free speech and assembly, defense of a vigorous free press and distrust of unbridled power.
“Vanessa Leggett’s courage in giving up her own freedom to fight for the fundamental principles of a free and independent press is the very essence of the values that drove Herblock,” TNG-CWA President Linda Foley said. “He cared deeply about civil liberties, about justice and fairness and he deftly used his talents to put the arrogant, elite and powerful in perspective. He would be exceedingly humble about an award with his name on it, but he would be proud that Ms. Leggett is its first recipient.”
Leggett said she’s humbled to receive the award and is grateful to the Guild for creating it in Herblock’s name. “I recall reading about Herblock’s death when I was in jail marveling at his contributions to journalism and history,” she said. “I can’t think of a more enduring and lively champion of the First Amendment than Herblock, whose work, for generations spanning a half century, came to represent the art of raising ‘bloody hell’ in the interest of press freedom.”
Leggett recently told the Columbia Journalism Review that she is “absolutely, more than ever” committed to her book, in spite of her prison experience and the risk that it may be repeated.
“I was treated as if I were a criminal, and a flight risk,” she told CJR. “If I was walking down the hall and guards approached, I couldn’t just stand and face them. I had to face the wall and stand staring at the wall until I was told I could turn around. But when it became apparent to me that the government’s actions in my case would have an effect on the press’s freedom to operate independently, that really just strengthened my resolve. I realized there was something larger than my sources and my book at stake.”
The award comes with a $5,000 check, an amount that may be increased in future years as Block’s trust grows. Block, who continued to draw cartoons for the Post until a few weeks before his death, had been a dues-paying member of The Newspaper Guild for 67 years, a record. In addition to the $50,000 gift to TNG international, Block willed another $50,000 to his local, the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild.