The news media *is* the corruption. It is the news media that gleefully publishes, quite illegally, confidential and top secret leaks from the FBI, Senate, and CIA.
Burn them. Jail each one of them that is in any way a party to such lawbreaking.
Posted on 12/19/2004 7:15:15 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Recent court developments have been grim for those who cherish a free press.
On Dec. 9, a television reporter in Providence, R.I., Jim Taricani, was sentenced to six months of house arrest for refusing to reveal who gave him an F.B.I. videotape showing a local official taking a bribe. Mr. Taricani did nothing illegal. Yet the Rhode Island federal judge who sentenced him pointedly said that only health problems spared him a prison term.
The worry now is that a three-judge federal appellate panel in Washington will take an equally cramped view of reporters' rights and affirm sentences of up to 18 months in prison that a lower court imposed in October on Judith Miller of The New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine. At issue is the pair's principled refusal to disclose their sources in connection with the investigation that the United States attorney and special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is leading into the leaking of the name of a covert C.I.A. officer, Valerie Plame, to the columnist Robert Novak.
Among the strange wrinkles in this case is that Mr. Novak, who first published Ms. Plame's name, seems to be in no jeopardy, while Mr. Cooper faces jail time stemming from an article he wrote exposing the administration's seamy motive of retaliating against Ms. Plame's husband for criticizing Iraq policy. Stranger still is Mr. Fitzgerald's decision to entangle Ms. Miller, since she never wrote a single article about the Plame controversy.
The appellate panel expressed palpable hostility to the notion that the First Amendment provides any protection for journalists subpoenaed to reveal their confidential sources to a grand jury. We hope that this is a case where the tenor of an oral argument does not foretell the content of a court's ruling. That same appellate hearing also explored another legal avenue the court could take to stop the two journalists from becoming the only people punished for the Bush administration's abuse of power in leaking the name of a covert C.I.A. operative.
In a series of questions, one of the three judges, David Tatel, sketched a promising alternative that would accord some legal protection in the grand jury setting, on grounds other than the First Amendment, involving a broad balancing of the equities. Ample basis for such a resolution can be found in a 1996 Supreme Court case that recognized legal protection of patients' statements to their psychotherapists. It can also be found in the reality that 49 states and the District of Columbia now offer journalists some degree of protection - a near consensus that easily supports at least a qualified common law privilege protecting a reporter's vital work.
Even without what we continue to believe are strong First Amendment claims, it would take no great legal stretch for Judge Tatel and his colleagues to overturn the lower court ruling regarding Ms. Miller and Mr. Cooper. All it would require is a healthy regard for robust journalism, government accountability and an informed citizenry.
"Among the strange wrinkles in this case is that Mr. Novak, who first published Ms. Plame's name, seems to be in no jeopardy, while Mr. Cooper faces jail time stemming from an article he wrote exposing the administration's seamy motive of retaliating against Ms. Plame's husband for criticizing Iraq policy..."
Perhaps because Novak talked and Cooper did not?
Its funny the legacy media is taking a dim view of reporters' being punished for breaking the law. This is the same media that wants to shut up the blogs and a la CFR, determine what is and isn't news. Seems to me they still don't get their monopoly is gone, period.
"That same appellate hearing also explored another legal avenue the court could take to stop the two journalists from becoming the only people punished for the Bush administration's abuse of power in leaking the name of a covert C.I.A. operative."
Okay, President Bush's folks leaked the name of one operative who is mad about it. Why was nobody punished when Jimmy Carter openly released the names of all CIA operatives, which got many of them killed?
The work of reporters is NOT vital. There is NOTHING in what they do that merits giving confidentiality to their sources. If they publish secrets, the law should -- no, MUST -- be able to look into it with an unfettered hand.
"On Dec. 9, a television reporter in Providence, R.I., Jim Taricani, was sentenced to six months of house arrest for refusing to reveal who gave him an F.B.I. videotape showing a local official taking a bribe. Mr. Taricani did nothing illegal."
Nothing illegal? Receiving stolen property is an illegal act. I doubt the FBI had given permission for this tape, evidence, to be released. How did a FBI tape get to the press? The government has the obligation to track down security leaks.
It should have been noted that the 9/11 commission rebuked Ambassador Wilson`s claims which resulted in him leaving the Kerry campaign.
Members of the press have no more right to commit, or be a party to the commission, of crime then anyone else.
This notion that journalists are an elite group immune to the laws that govern we plebs is one the press must be disabused of post haste.
Or perhaps more simply, because Cooper broke the law and Novak did not?
...the Bush administration's abuse of power in leaking...
...so carefully worded...
These folks want special protections because they are "journalists". Well folks, you might have had a claim and reason at one time, but now most of the "journalists" are agenda driven political hacks. Sorry, you have Jason Blaired and Dan Rathered yourselves right out of business.
Learn to live with the same protections and choices the rest of us do. You do have the equal protection clause (says nothing about journalist special protection) and the right to choose to disobey a judge. Just be prepared to accept the consequences.
Hypocrites they are, but they have a good point. It will be very difficult for the press to investigate corruption if they cannot protect their sources.
You really think Novak squealed? Wheezed? Grumbled?
The worry now is that a three-judge federal appellate panel in Washington will take an equally cramped view of reporters' rights and affirm sentences of up to 18 months in prison that a lower court imposed in October on Judith Miller of The New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine. At issue is the pair's principled refusal to disclose their sources in connection with the investigation that the United States attorney and special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is leading into the leaking of the name of a covert C.I.A. officer, Valerie Plame, to the columnist Robert Novak.
-----
It was the press that DEMANDED Bush appoint someone to investigate who outed their liberal spy friends. Big hypocrites.
If they sent up Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich for life, it would make my day.
It is not a trivial matter for the police and a court to agree to subpoena a journalist to hide corruption. And quite honestly, the press coverage such would generate would if anything only make the scandal that much harder to hide.
More importantly, looking at my copy of the Constitution (at least), I see no special rights and protections extended to self identified journalists by writ of their job.
And judging by the press's recent penchant for making up sources or lying as to what their sources are claimging, such a right is an open invitation to mischief.
Now how can there be government accountability when they refuse to name their source? Besides, we all know that if this information came from the BUSH administration they would have talked by now.
The news media *is* the corruption. It is the news media that gleefully publishes, quite illegally, confidential and top secret leaks from the FBI, Senate, and CIA.
Burn them. Jail each one of them that is in any way a party to such lawbreaking.
They should be sent to Al-Jazeera to serve ten year internships with their masters!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.