07/13/05

Consider a startling idea. Matt Cooper of Time magazine was right to testify before the grand jury and identify Karl Rove as the leak. The definition of the Valerie Plame story has now shifted from its first phase (minor, not very newsworthy leak) to a second phase emphasizing the First Amendment (outrage that special counsel is squeezing reporters to testify) to a third phase where it properly belongs (very big story of Karl Rove and Bush White House illegally breaching national security for crass political purposes). There is, at last, plenty of attention to the weaselly Rove, who may finally get what's coming to him. ... It's in the DNA of every working journalist to insist, almost subconsciously, that reporters should never disclose their sources -- ever. Presumably this is one of those high principles and bright lines that is best kept clear and never crossed...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=9962

from The American Prospect, by Robert Kuttner


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp