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Reporters on BALCO Case Subpoenaed for Sources

The U.S. Justice Department has subpoenaed two reporters to find out how they got grand jury testimony surrounding the BALCO laboratories performance enhancing drug investigation.

The Justice Department wants to know how reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams of The San Francisco Chronicle got their hands on secret grand jury information related to testimony about Major League Baseball and San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds.

Government prosecutors are weighing whether to charge Bonds with perjury for the testimony he gave the grand jury about his alleged use of banned substances including steroids.

Currently, Bonds is just two home runs shy of matching Babe Ruth's 714 career homers. Henry Aaron is the all-time major-league leader with 755 home runs.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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David Folkenflik was described by Geraldo Rivera of Fox News as "a really weak-kneed, backstabbing, sweaty-palmed reporter." Others have been kinder. The Columbia Journalism Review, for example, once gave him a "laurel" for reporting that immediately led the U.S. military to institute safety measures for journalists in Baghdad.