Two San Francisco reporters are appealing a jail sentence of up to for refusing to testify about who leaked them secret testimony from Barry Bonds and other elite athletes about steroid use by professional athletes. Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada published articles and a book based partly on transcripts of testimony by Bonds, Jason Giambi and others before a federal grand jury investigating a California nutritional supplement company exposed as a steroid peddler two years ago.

The U.S. Justice Department to prosecute whomever unlawfully delivered the transcripts, and the government says the two writers are the only ones who can name their sources. The investigative journalists acknowledge being in contempt of court, but requested a "nominal monetary fine" and punishment such as house arrest and weekend jailing. Each has a wife and children.

A judge’s decision last week to jail the pair raised the stakes in a high-profile case. It’s seen as a conflict between the 1st Amendment and reporters' ability to gather news versus prosecutors' interest in maintaining grand jury secrecy to get reliable testimony in criminal investigations.

Journalists say: Compelling testimony would undercut efforts to perform the public service of exposing wrongdoing. “When reporters who are just doing their job are looking at prison time, that's never a good thing. The public is not well-served.” – Phil Bronstein, editor of The San Francisco Chronicle, the pair’s employer

Judge says: Secret grand jury proceedings are critical to the justice system of justice and outweigh the media's need to promise confidentiality to sources possessing vital information.

What’s at stake: “Two reporters who broke the sports story of the decade might be sent away. . . . If journalists can't protect sources, the profession is dead as we know it. Watergate never would have happened under those rules.” – Jay Mariotti, sports columnist at Chicago Sun-Times