Adam Penenberg analyzes how it’s not only Time magazine that is to blame over the Valerie Plame affair resulting in jail sentances for one newspaper and massive embarrassement and shame for another.
Who should hold responsibility?
The first (obvious choice) to come to mind would be the person (Karl Rove, Scooter Libby or one of their minions?) who leaked the fact that Valerie Plame, wife of former diplomat-turned-Bush-basher Joseph Wilson, worked for the CIA. Then there’s crusty Robert Novak, who published this scoop in a column, yet seems to have avoided the threat of prison — unlike Time’s Matthew Cooper, who agreed to testify when his source suddenly consented, or Judith Miller of The New York Times, who chose prison over revealing her source. Perhaps Novak concluded that as an opinion columnist with a shrill political agenda, he doesn’t actually qualify as a journalist.
Finally there is prosecutor Fitzgerald, who has placed himself on the front lines in this administration’s war against the press, doling out subpoenas to journalists like they were Evites to a barbecue. While the First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press — and that, I would argue, means ensuring that reporters can protect the identity of confidential sources — Fitzgerald believes that journalists don’t have the right to promise confidentiality. This is something the courts have backed him on.
Wired News: Who’s to Blame for Valerie Plame?
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