Rhode Island's two U.S. senators have paid tribute to an award-winning television reporter who died recently.
Longtime WJAR-TV reporter Jim Taricani spent his career exposing public corruption and covering organized crime. He died June 21 of kidney failure at age 69.
Democratic Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse spoke on the Senate floor Tuesday.
Reed called Taricani a trusted newsman who contributed for decades to the field of journalism nationwide. Whitehouse says Taricani was a staunch defender of the First Amendment.
Taricani, a Connecticut native, covered Rhode Island for 40 years.
He spent four months in home confinement for refusing to reveal the source of a secret FBI videotape that showed a city official taking a bribe. He advocated for a federal shield law to protect journalists from having to reveal sources.
