ONE SINGS, THE OTHER DOESN'T
Matt Cooper Will Tell His Tale. Judy Miller Goes to Jail
And Where Is Robert Novak? Where will Karl Rove be in one to five years?
A federal judge today ordered the jailing of a New York Times reporter for refusing to divulge a confidential source, but a Time magazine reporter facing possible jail time in the same case reversed course and agreed to testify before a grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA agent's identity.
--snip--
"I am prepared to testify," said Cooper, who wrote an article about the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.
Miller, however, stood by her refusal to testify before the grand jury or provide any information to prosecutors in the case. Miller's testimony had been sought by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald even though she never wrote about Plame.
[WASHINGTON POST]
"If journalists cannot be trusted to guarantee confidentiality, then journalists cannot function and there cannot be a free press," she read from a statement as she stood before Judge Hogan. "The right of civil disobedience is based on personal conscience, it is fundamental to our system and it is honored throughout our history," she said before court officers led her away, looking shaken.
--snip--
"Judy Miller made a commitment to her source and she's standing by it," [Bill Keller] said. "This is a chilling conclusion to an utterly confounding case."
[NYTIMES]
--snip--
"I am prepared to testify," said Cooper, who wrote an article about the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.
Miller, however, stood by her refusal to testify before the grand jury or provide any information to prosecutors in the case. Miller's testimony had been sought by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald even though she never wrote about Plame.
[WASHINGTON POST]
"If journalists cannot be trusted to guarantee confidentiality, then journalists cannot function and there cannot be a free press," she read from a statement as she stood before Judge Hogan. "The right of civil disobedience is based on personal conscience, it is fundamental to our system and it is honored throughout our history," she said before court officers led her away, looking shaken.
--snip--
"Judy Miller made a commitment to her source and she's standing by it," [Bill Keller] said. "This is a chilling conclusion to an utterly confounding case."
[NYTIMES]
Judy Miller Made a Commitment to Her Source? But her source has no similar commitment to her! So she will be commited to jail.
RELATED HERETIK POSTS:
[STRANGE ECHOES IN THE CRYPT]
[THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA]
USEFUL BACKGROUND: [MSNBC]
OTHER BLOGS/ONLINE MAGS ON THIS:
The real victims of this cover-up, which may have turned criminal, are
the Congress, the Constitution and, most tragically, the Americans and
Iraqis who have paid the ultimate price for Bush’s folly.
[Joe Wilson/TPM] Hat Tip: POP
[MAHA] [TALK LEFT] [ALL SPIN ZONE] [LEFT COASTER]
THIS WILL BE UPDATED
Freedom of the press. Unless they won't reveal sources. Then lock them up. Good grief!
Posted by: UnapologeticAtheist | July 06, 2005 at 02:52 PM
"After 40 years in this business, I have the nagging feeling that Judy Miller may be the only person to go to jail in this case," Bennett said. No one has been charged as part of the grand jury investigation which began in January 2004.
Posted by: Night Bird | July 06, 2005 at 03:03 PM
Hey, I am actually being remembered here. Is that a good thing?
Posted by: Night Bird | July 06, 2005 at 03:04 PM
I am having a real hard time following this one. First, as I understand it, no source should be protected if what he's telling you is that he's going to commit a crime. No source who involves you in a crime should be protected.
I don't think there are any journalists who have any trouble with these limits to their responsibilities to their sources. Miller and Cooper should have had no problem giving up Rove or whoever it was who burned Plame.
Which makes me think that the sources they were protecting or trying to protect didn't out Plame, just knew who outed her. If that's what they told Miller and Cooper, why didn't they write a story? If they had sources telling them who committed a crime, wasn't it their job to report it?
That makes me think then they didn't have such sources.
So if their sources weren't the leaker and their sources didn't know who the leaker was, then what do their sources have to do with the investigation at all.
What's going on? Is Fitzgerald after something else? What else?
Posted by: Lance Mannion | July 06, 2005 at 03:30 PM
Judith Miller is a shill for the Administration. She isn't protecting a free press - she's aiding and abetting a traitor. This is not about perjury - this is about outing a CIA agent specializing in WMD's when we are at war. That is a capital offense.
Posted by: Morgaine Swann | July 07, 2005 at 02:36 AM