There is, I think, a certain amount of narcissism on the part of the press in the case of the Judith goes to Jail / Valerie Plame leak case. Reporters and media groups are beside themselves and threatening the fall of the republic because a federal prosecutor has made good on his threat to either get compliance from key witnesses in his case (Miller and Cooper), or throw them in the slammer.
Unfortunately, this is a pretty smarmy case on which to make the otherwise valid case that journalists must be as unconstrained as possible, and whistleblowers as well-protected as possible, so that together, the two can get vital, even damning, information to the public. But in this case, Matthew Cooper and Judith Miller weren't investigating who leaked Valerie Plame's name to Robert Novak, they were fellow recipients of the potentially criminal leak. The leaker essentially tried to turn six reporters into accessories in the outing of a CIA agent, and so those reporters were a means to a nasty, political end, not intrepid finders of fact. Therefore the straight line from the prosecutor's demand that they give information to the grand jury investigating the crime, and the idea that future whistleblowing will be imperiled is wobbly at best.
Let's face it: the 24-7 media lives by scoops, and becuase reporters have so spoiled government officials, scoops come almost exclusively from anomymous leaks and "background" briefings. The leaks will continue, even as Judy Miller cools her heels, because both the leakers and the leakees need each other. Few reporters are out there these days sniffing out stories on their own. More and more, news gathering is a "receptive" process (i.e., Judith Miller's ubiquitous receipt of "news" from the Iraqi National Congress, which she reported before the war, and which turned out to be bunk), and those who hand out the info, whatever their motives, have few other ways to get their dirt out.
Maybe, with the blogosphere catching fire, future leakers will simply post their information online, or email it to a friendly blogger -- that would have a chilling effect, but only on the MSM's monopoly on news gathering. I doubt that the future Deep Throat will now clam up and abandon the garage for fear that the reporters will be forced to talk -- the only reason these reporters are being compelled to talk is because it appears that the leaker committed a crime. Miller and Cooper are witnesses to that alleged crime, and under the law, they have to testify before the grand jury. Journalists are not priests or lawyers -- and they don't have the right to essentially help a criminal to evade prosecution. That's what's at stake in this case, not the future of journalism or whistleblowing.
On the other side is this argument, which in my mind is the only one that's valid (and a darned shame, besides):
"...the power to threaten journalists with jail arising from this case will NOT be limited to the facts of this case. Good luck holding future prosecutors only to cases where sources allegedly committed treason. We will see this precedent cited in all sorts of attacks on the protection of sources."
Update:FoolBlog sez: If Rove did it, he'll be pardoned before Bush can say "I fell off my bike..." Talkleft has the particulars on Cooper and Miller's legal situations.
Update 2: It's looking more and more like, while Matthew Cooper was shielding Karl Rove, Judith Miller may be throwing her body between the prosecutor and Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Dick Cheney's chief of staff.... Meanwhile the LeftCoaster proposes an even jucier theory: what if the man who discovered Plame's identity was none other than Mr. Moustache himself, John Bolton...?
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done = request.form("done")
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done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
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if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
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'put the webmaster address here
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'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
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'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
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sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
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End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
