NYP: SHIELDING REPORTERS -- Should a special "right" of confidentiality exist for an effete elite?

The Post is absolutely wrong. As the Plame affair clearly demonstrates, journalists have repeatedly abused their invention of the called "confidential source" privilege, often involving serious crimes or national security matters. The public has a right to know who their sources are.

Furthermore, this popular tactic of using anonymous sources has become a weapon for use against Republicans, and rarely against Democrats unless the Dem operatives have become so obnoxious their own party wants to purge them. Fair play demands that there not be a federal shield law. In fact, there arguably should not be state shield laws that afford journalists protections not given other citizens, such as bloggers. If journalists cannot find alternative sources for a story in a country of 300 million, it is due to their inherent laziness.

I agree. See the other thread regarding this bill.

This would be laughable if it wasn't so ironic.

One self appointed Elite (Judges)

have been taking another self appointed Elite (Journalists) to task and now the Congress wants to give the latter Elite the ability to thumb it's nose at the Former Elite.

I wonder when WE THE PEOPLE will finally get tired of this and shove ALL of the Elites into the freakin Atlantic?

We are all reporters. Since the internet has given every citizen "the means of production". The dinosaurs have still failed to grasp the internet's impact. If we are all reporters, do they sheild us all? I think not.

I wonder about libel if such an immunity is extended. Would such a shield law enable reporters to fabricate stories, claim an anonymous source and be immune from lawsuit?

The public has a right to know who their sources are.

Agreed. Allowing the concealment of sources can create unlimited mischief. How can an individual defend against anonymous accusers?

I see this entire argument as an attack against individual rights and the creation of a "special class."

I can't see giving special protection to communists at the New York Times who want to destroy America.

I think it is funny that the NYT who pressed for a special prosecutor because they thought it would hurt Bush, finds its reporter in jail for being unhelpful about getting to the bottom of all this.

I mean Plame WAS "outed" in the NYT, right?

I'm against a shield law because I want the Press to have something to think about before they gin up a phony scandal.

So a "journalist" could print the plans for the atomic bomb in TASS and protect the Rosenbergs? I don't think so.

Absolutely not. We don't need another special class in the US. We already have: The Kennedys, politicians, police, with extra privileges beyond what is afforded to normal citizens.

In fact, there arguably should not be state shield laws that afford journalists protections not given other citizens, such as bloggers.

IMHO, bloggers ARE journalists. The courts might not agree with me, but I fail to see why someone who publishes using bytes rather than dead trees should be treated differently.

The NY Post also believes that journalists should get to go to the front of the line for rides at theme parks and they should get 10% discounts on prescriptions.

Should a special "right" of confidentiality exist for an effete elite?

NO. Next question.

The Post is wrong. This would allow ever more of these elite's stories to be made-up evermore.
These "journalists" are NOT above the law!

A shield law would have allowed the NYT or WP to make up and print some outrageous story about Karl Rove without any fear of having to back it up with anything but "a confidential source told us." Of course, with their extreme left wing bias, they could attack any conservative figure the neocommunists ordered them to without concern. A shield law only protects media corruption and treats a source as a property right.

One could argue that confidential sources provide inaccurate information more often than not. Of course we'll never know, will we?

Congress should fix the real problem. If these anonymous sources are whistleblowers who fear for their jobs, Congress should legislate adequate protection for whistleblowers. IMHO these leakers often blow more than whistles.

In a clearly defined role as a collector of information for a newspaper, then I do want reporters to have a confidential relationship with their sources. I want this for constitutional reasons. The 1st amendment says that "Congress shall make no law...abridging...the freedom of the press..."

I don't think it's possible for Congress to pass a law that restricts the investigation a reporter can do and then say that they have not abridged the freedom of that reporter to pursue that story.

That same amendment says that Congress can't make a law establishing a state religion or messing with anyone's free exercise of religion.

I believe that priests/pastors should have a confidential relationship with parishoners/penitents.

I want "no law" to mean the same in both cases. Will it be abused? Probably. But the alternative is worse.

jmho

the media claim that the people have a "right to know" about the machinations of corporations and governments - including who did what, where, when, on whose orders, etc...

I say fine, good, dandy: sauce for the goose.

We must therefore also have the exact same right to know about the machinations of the media - including who SAID what, where, when, on whose orders, etc...

NO SPECIAL SHIELD.

Was Plame (as David Horowitz has essentially said and Michael Kelly has guessed) and/or Wilson (as Cliff May and others, like me,* have hypothesized) the "source"?

Inquiring minds want to know.

* See for instance my FR Post:

"Was the Narcissistic Joe Wilson a Source in "Outing" His Own Wife Valerie Plame as a "CIA Agent"?"

Why should the press have special supra-citizen privileges and Rights?

Are all posters and all bloggers "Media" and exempt?

If not, Why not?!?! (What contrived --- and necessarily ultimately "arbitrary" criteria can the Congress dredge up for who is press and who is not?)

On the factual side: What if Plame, Wilson and /or Chris Lahane are "sources" onthe present Judith Miller case? What would the conservatives then think about untended consequences? Of course this could be a saving deal for the Dems, except that it probably couldn't be applied ex-post facto.

P.S. See my related Plame-gate post:

"Was the Narcissistic Joe Wilson a Source in "Outing" His Own Wife Valerie Plame as a "CIA Agent"?"

"Safeguards now in the bill seem sufficient to protect the interests of both government and media."

Who cares about the reporters? Turn the bulldogs and crocodiles lose on 'em. Bon appetite!

MORE on Why Reporters Don't Deserve Special Privileges -- in a word is "Honesty"
-- i.e., reporters are not honest with the public, as the examples below illustrate:

The Left - and the MSM they control - have tried to smear Bush from the get-go. Here's a partial listing (originally - on 7/17 - this list was merely a dirty dozen) of the idiotic phony scandals they've trumped up in an attempt to smear our president - even if it means aiding the enemy! This expanded list has been compiled from 7/17-19 with help from my readers. Here we go:

1 - "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" - The Left/MSM would like you to believe that Bush declared the war in Iraq over. He did not. Bush declared an end to major combat - which was true. In the same speech Bush said that the struggle continued, and it was going to be a difficult transition. QUOTE:

Thank you. Thank you all very much. Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country. ... We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We're bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous. We're pursuing and finding leaders of the old regime who will be held to account for their crimes. ... We are helping to rebuild Iraq where the dictator built palaces for himself instead of hospitals and schools. And we will stand with the new leaders of Iraq as they establish a government of, by and for the Iraqi people. The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done and then we will leave and we will leave behind a free Iraq. The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11th, 2001 and still goes on.

2 - "PLAME NAME GAME" - Judith Miller is in jail. Rove is cooperating, and released all reporters he spoke to so they can testify, (yet STILL somehow all this is about Rove!?). BOTTOM-LINE: Plame was NOT covert (as defined by the I.I.P.A.), and therefore could not be "outed". As John Tierney of The NYTIMES wrote: this is NADAGATE. There is no there there.

3 - "MEMOGATE" - In a concerted effort to spring an "October Surprise", members of the the Left/MSM manufactured and used FAKE documents to try to prove that Bush did not serve honorably when he was part of the Texas Air National Guard. They did this RIGHT BEFORE THE ELECTION. Texan Dan Rather lost his job; Bush got re-hired. Nuff said.

4 - "ABU GHRAIB" - the Left/MSM portrayed these limited number of disgusting events perpetrated by a few sickos at a prison in Baghdad as pervasive crimes which were the fault of Rumsfeld, Gonzales and Bush. The fact is that months before the disgusting events/photos became public (through the efforts of the perps defense attorneys and a MSM that hungers for anti-Bush stuff SO MUCH, they'll publicize anything - even if it aids the enemy!) the Pentagon was investigating. Now they are prosecuting and punishing the perps.

5 - "NIGER YELLOWCAKE AND THE SOTU" - Bush never said the words "Niger" or "Yellowcake" in the 2003 SOTU. (What he said was: “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” - and the Brits still stand behind this intel. Wilson LIED about how he got the assignment and what he reported about his mission. And he did this RIGHT BEFORE THE ELECTION - and election in which he was an advisor and contributor to Kerry. The real scandal is that the MSM has allowed Wilson to LIE AND LIE AND LIE OVER AND OVER without one network or major newspaper once calling him out on it. COULD IT BE THAT THEY'RE BIASED!? MORE HERE.

6 - "BUSH LIED" ABOUT WMD - The USA and every other major nation had the same intel (and even Clinton believed it). In addition, The Deulfer Report concluded that Saddam was in violation of the UNSC #1441 - and had WMD assets which were banned - Saddam's stockpiles (those he had ion 1991, and MIGHT have made between 1993-2003) were never found. NEVERTHELESS, because Saddam was in violation of all the UNSC's and UNSC #114, a casus belli existed.

7 - "ENRON/Kenny Boy Lay" - the crimes were actually committed on Clinton's watch and prosecuted on Bush's. Yet the Left/MSM blames Bush. This is generally true of ALL the corporate scandals of late (Arthur Andersen/Worldcom/etc): the crimes were committed under the noses of Clinton & Rubin - who get none of the blame for them from the Left/MSM. Bush - who does get blamed - is actually punishing the crooks and fixing the problems by reforming the markets.

8 - "CHENEY'S SECRET ENERGY TASK FORCE" - The Left/MSM claimed that the Veep had no right to meet with anyone in private - especially not anyone in the energy industry. The Left claimed Cheney was a tool of the industry. The Left did what they love most: dragged it into the COURTS! The Left lost their legal battle, and Bush passed a sweeping Energy Bill - WITH BIPARTISAN SUPPORT. Yawn.

9 - "'IRAQ IS A DIVERSION' BY DICK CLARKE" - Disgruntled bureaucrat, Dick Clarke claimed that Bush could have stopped 9/11 - and claimed that a "Presidential Daily Briefing" in August would prove this; however, the PDB contained NO ACTIONABLE INTEL. Clarke further claimed that Iraq was not involved in terror since 1993 - or cooperating with al Qaeda. BOTH WRONG! In fact, the Clinton Administration had proof of Saddam/al Qaeda operational cooperation, and we have discovered more proof at GITMO. BONUS BOGUS CLAIM: Clarke LIED when he testified that stepped up counter-terror efforts were the reason the Millennium Attack failed.

10 - "HUMVEE-GATE" - An intellectually dishonest reporter for the Left-wing dominated MSM planted a question/questioner during a military town hall meeting Rumsfeld held in Kuwait. At the time the army had not yet retro-fitted armor on to all their 15,000 Humvees; it does take time. FACT: the Humvee was NEVER intended as an ARMORED PERSONNEL CARRIER; the Humvee is merely the "new" Jeep. FACT: The enemy always attempts to attack at your weak-points. For a limited amount of time, the Humvees were a weak point. We fixed that, and the enemy moved on to other soft-targets. That's the way war is; it was not a scandal - except in the minds of the Left/MSM. NOW: Retro-fitted/armored Humvees are having other problems.

11 - "AL QAQQAGATE / NYTROGATE" - Just before the election, the LEFT/MSM AGAIN rushed out a phony story about a weapons depot supposedly looted after we took control of Iraq. The whole story was BS.

12 - "GITMOGATE" - Amnesty International calls GITMO a gulag; Durbin upped the ante and followed suit - comparing it both a gulag and a NAZI concentration camp and a Pol Pot "killing field". SHEESH! Durbin cries as he apologizes; (he should have been censured!). The Left/MSM blames Gonzales and Rumsfeld and Bush. A congressional Delegation investigates, and finds GITMO is nearly a country club. HERE'S another report with many links) on their visit - from the NYTIMES; they buried it on page 15! MAYBE MARTHA STEWART SHOULD HAVE SERVED THERE!? The Pentagon investigated the specific FBI report Durbin misused, and found that it cannot be corroborated. (GOTTA MINUTE? Read this brilliant and hilarious sarcastic piece on the Gitmo scandal by James Lileks.)

13 - "TURKEYGATE" (hat tip reader/commenter PapayaSF) - that supposedly plastic turkey Bush held up on his surprise visit to Iraq - THAT TURNED OUT TO BE REAL! This attempt at smearing Bush proved that the Left - and the MSM they still dominate - will stoop to any depth, tell any lie, deny any truth in order to hurt Bush - even if it helps the enemy. They are shameless.

14 - "LANCETGATE" - that bogus statistical study which claimed to prove that the USA killed 100,000 civilians in the Iraq War. This study was thoroughly debunked. (Civilian casualties were probably between 4,000-8,000.) Read about it HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE - (these are links to link-filled Instapundit postings).

15(a) - "KRUGMANGATE" - the Left (led by deranged NYTIMES columnist Paul Krugman) railed that the Bush tax cuts would drive the economy into a depression. WRONG. The USA economy leads the word and deficits are shrinking again. We could call this "HOOVERGATE" 15(b) - because the Left kept charging over and over again that Bush was the first president since Hoover to lose jobs on his watch. Of course, by the time the election took place, that was no longer true: the nation was plus 1.5 million jobs, and the job growth has continued and the economy is doing GREAT! Of course, you won't read that much about it in the MSM!

16 - "FUNERALGATE" - this (courtesy of John Cole of Balloon Juice) - is the phony scandal that Bush was somehow being a bad leader (and/or disingenuous) because he wasn't attending any funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. For a COMPLETE run-down of FUNERALGATE click HERE, and read John's comprehensive review.

17 - "PATRIOT-ACT-GATE" - remember how the Lefties cried and cried and cried about how it was, in effect, a repeal of the Bill of Rights!? They were completely overboard and outta control on that. Today, they cannot name ONE citizen who's had their Rights denied. Yet despite that, they - the ACLU especially - have intervened again and again on behalf of the sworn enemies of America and liberty - making it more difficult for us to prosecute the enemy and to gather intel' on them. And now, the Left is trying to weaken it as it goes through re-enactment. (Hat tip to commenter ARMINIUS - for this and #18!)

18 - "LOOTED BAGHDAD MUSEUM-GATE" - remember how the Left, and the MSM they dominate, railed and railed about how Rumsfeld and the US military had idiotically left the Baghdad Art Museum unprotected and thus has allowed massive looting of its ancient art treasures (they called it "cultural vandalism" and they meant that WE were the vandals, and NOT the enemy!), REMEBER!? Well: THAT WAS PHONY TOO! Most of the treasures were hidden - or stolen by insiders.

19 - "Bush first said he'd fire any leaker; now he's not saying that; therefore, Bush is moving the goal-posts-GATE" - (swiped from John Cole's BALLOON JUICE: "... here is what Bush initially said regarding leaks within his administration:
Let me just say something about leaks in Washington. There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There are leaks at the executive branch; there are leaks in the legislative branch. There are just too many leaks. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of.

This statement, due to the miracle of spin and the President's habit of using imprecise language while speaking extemporaneously, has transmogrified into 'I will fire anyone in my administration who talked about Valerie Plame.' (John Cole)

Of course, that is truly NOT what he said, and NOT what he meant. This FACT hasn't stopped the Left - (folks like John Podesta and the fat senior Senator from Massachusetts, Teddy Jo Kopechne) - and the MSM they still dominate, from LYING and distorting it to suit their narrow partisan ends. Anyone who has the slightest regard for the truth knows that the claim that Bush is moving the goal-posts to protect his cronies is completely BOGUS.

20 - "KORANGATE" - hat tip TRAN SIENT'S WATCH - This is the one in which our military was supposedly deliberately effing with copies of the Koran in order to upset prisoners at GITMO. Only it turned out that most of the Koran abuse - like the toilet-flushing - was NOT by US soldiers, but by the prisoners themselves.

21 - "FLU-SHOT-GATE" - In 2004 (and just before the election), because of a production problem, a major plant couldn't deliver the the flu vaccine to the DHHS. The Left blamed Bush. Kerry/Edwards even ran ads about it! Well, there was no wave of flu-related deaths, were there!? In fact, flu-season came and went RATHER MILDLY! I guess the Left and the MSM just made a mountain out of a mole-hill - or should we say that they TRIED to make a scandal out of THIN AIR, and FAILED! I wonder why!? Could it be .... LEFT-WING BIAS?! Naw, ya tink!? More HERE.

22 - "ABORTIONGATE" - This is the one in which the Left claims abortion has gone UP under Bush because of his policies. EVEN HILLARY PUSHED THIS LINE.
But the FACT was, that there were NO STATISTICS on the issue at the time; (the Left just made up the charge out of whole cloth!). NOW, there are statistics, and they show that abortions continued to decline in 2001 and 2002 (the last year for which statistics are available). (Hat tip KJ at NRO.)

23 - "OHIO-GATE" - The Left charged that Bush stole Ohio in 2004. A study proved that everything was fair and square. (Hat tip Now That's Ironic). ASIDE: actually, Bush lost more states by smaller margins than Kerry did. And Bush did not challenge a single one, or even cast aspersions or innuendo about them. Even though there were much more credible reports of fraud in New Mexico and Minnesota and Pennsylvania than in Ohio. The lefty Dems are just sore sports; they'd rather cheat and wind, than lose fair 'n square. AND THEY DO CHEAT: There have been some convictions of voter fraud against DEMOCRATS. But you won't see it in the MSM or on the evening news. I WONDER WHY!? Heh. By the way: the AP reports that the acting mayor of San Diego was convicted of corruption today. They DON'T mention that he's a DEMOCRAT. Do you think that IF he was a GOP'er that the AP would've left that detail out?! Of course not!

24 - "FBI-ACLU-GATE" - Per Kerr/Volokh (hat tip NRO/ADLER/Corner): Eric Lichtblau's New York Times story about the FBI's keeping records on the ACLU is based on a serious misrepresentation. ... the New York Times reported today that the FBI had 1,173 pages of records "on" the ACLU, which makes it sound like the FBI is keeping a large dossier on the ACLU. ... It turns out that the language of the ACLU request was tremendously broad. The ACLU didn't request just documents about the ACLU, or documents about monitoring the ACLU. Rather, it made an extremely broad request that asked the FBI to collect any documents in its possession that even just referred to the ACLU. ... my suspicion is that the New York Times reported the number of FBI pages that mention the ACLU as if it were the number of FBI pages that were about the ACLU and its activities. It seems to me that the difference is considerable."

YOU BET IT IS; it's the difference between a pseudo-scandal and the truth. In other words: the Left tries to strike again, but again they only STRIKE OUT! Here is how the ACLU press release presents DOJ's court filing in response to its FOIA request (again, from Kerr/Volokh): Government Has Amassed Thousands of Pages on National Peace and Civil Rights Organizations NEW YORK — The American Civil Liberties Union today revealed that the FBI has amassed more than 1,100 pages of documents on its organization since 2001, as well as documents concerning other non-violent groups including Greenpeace and United for Peace and Justice.

This is nothing more than RANK DISTORTION and a SMEAR against the FBI. The NYTIMES and the WASHPOST and the rest of the MSM relayed the Left-wing SMEAR as if it was Gospel. The Left and the MSM they dominate have no shame, no morals, and no chance at winning with tactics like this! Thank God!

We should also always remember one of the most annoying and non-productive characteristics of the folks that make these Left-wing smears: even after they've been disproved, the Left-wing talking heads still repeat them over and over and over again. I think their employing the BIG LIE THEORY in practice; they think if the say it often enough people will believe that they're true. And the sad fact is, that because so many people limit their news intake to the MSM or the NYTimes, they have NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE MISSING: the truth!

And, the MSM cannot get away with using the excuse that they're just INCOMPETENT. After all, nearly ALL the mistakes always benefit either the Left or our enemies in the GWOT. That's NOT incompetence; that's bias verging on treason.

IF I WERE INCLINED TO HELP THE LEFT/MSM, I'D RECOMMEND THAT, INSTEAD OF TRYING TO SMEAR BUSH WITH PHONY SCANDALS, THE LEFT PROPOSE SOME COUNTER-POLICIES FOR THE GWOT AND THE ECONOMY AND ON OTHER DOMESTIC ISSUES. Not that it would work: The Left's policies are as bad as their phony scandals! Heh.

And I'd recommend to the MSM that they cover the news; there's a lot happening out there, and it's pathetic that they miss most of it! They miss the REAL news because they're too busy trumping up phony news to hurt Bush.

-- astuteblogger.blogspot.com/2005/07/bogus-bush-scandals-recap.html

From the New York Times, July 22, 2005, we have their editors' construct of a CIA Leak INvestigation timeline. No where is cited the Senate Intelligence Committee Report, which refuted all major aspects of the Joe Wilson story.

That is plain dishonesty on the part of the Times, again exposing their tendency to play fast and loose with the facts. They deserve no special protections for their brand of journalism. If removing shields were to have a "chilling effect" on bad journalism, the public interest would be served.

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