The reporters figured if the government went after anybody, it would be Novak. They never expected Novak to do whatever he did to get the government off his back. Once the special prosecutor went after them, Time and the Times had no choice but to fight it- if for no other reason then to hope the Supreme Court would finally decide one way or the other regarding confidentiality protection for the press. The more I think of it, I bet Rove did nothing more than spread the story about Plame after it had already been revealed by Novak. In other words, Rove is not the original source of the leaks and O'Donnell knows it.
But Jim, it had already been established by the Supreme Court that there was no shield protection for the press. Few legal scholars were surprised by their decision in this case for that very reason.