With several reporters in the United States facing possible jail sentences and fines, there are signs mounting legal pressure on journalists to reveal confidential sources is having a chilling effect on newsgathering. Clark Hoyt, the Washington editor of Knight Ridder, the United States' second-largest newspaper company, said he has seen two examples in recent weeks of sources declining to provide information after initially agreeing to do so confidentially. The sources feared they might be investigated, or that their identities could be discovered from a subpoena of the reporter's phone records, Hoyt said. «I think there is no question that there is greater anxiety among sources about talking to journalists,» he said. --More 0042 Local Time 2142 GMT
