BROOKE GLADSTONE: This is On the Media. I'm Brooke Gladstone.

BOB GARFIELD: And I'm Bob Garfield, with this update in the Valerie Plame case. As we've reported, Plame is the CIA officer whose identity was made public by syndicated columnist Robert Novak, using information leaked by an unnamed administration official. That official revealed Plame's name in questioning the motives of her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, in his criticism of the Iraq war. For months, a federal prosecutor has been investigating whether the leaker broke the law and has been issuing grand jury subpoenas to journalists thought to have been leaked the same information.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Several of them have testified, having first been given permission to by their sources. But another, the New York Times' Judith Miller, has refused to testify under any circumstances, and on Thursday was found in contempt of court by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas F. Hogan. Citing the legal guideline that shield laws do not protect news organizations from such subpoenas when all other investigative avenues have been exhausted, he ordered Miller to testify or face up to 18 months in jail. Hogan stayed his order, however, pending Miller's appeal to a higher federal court. [MUSIC]