The Washington Post is reporting that Time Magazine will hand over Michael Cooper’s notes on the Valerie Plame leak. During a press conference yesterday, following the court’s ultimatum that Michael Cooper of Time magazine and Judith Miller of the NYT make their final decisions about what course they will take, Cooper said he preferred that Time would not cooperate but that he understood that the corporation had its own interests to consider in this case.
Is this just a matter of saving Cooper from incarceration? Not exactly. Read on.
Pearlstine told the Washington Post that the magazine felt it had no choice but to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision. “As much as I’m a staunch defender of editorial independence, I don’t believe there’s anything in the Constitution that says journalists are above the law,” he said. “The alternative to complying would be a kind of anarchy.”
Pearlstine said, “those of us in the news business are constantly pointing fingers at others who act like they’re above the law. We can’t now assert that we are.”
This action is sure to add to the already massive controversy surrounding freedom of the press. Anarchy? Some will vehemently disagree. Was it proper for the court to even demand these notes? Many think it was not.
“Although we shall comply with the order to turn over the subpoenaed records, we shall continue to support the protection of confidential sources,” the statement continued. “The same constitution that protects the freedom of the press requires obedience to final decisions of the courts and respect for their rulings and judgments. That Time Inc. strongly disagrees with the courts provides no immunity.”
There’s the conundrum: the Supremes refused to hear the case. It went back to the lower court that demanded compliance and Time has decided it must relent – possibly jeapordizing its reputation as a defender of confidential sources from now on.
It’s the media’s equivalent of Sophie’s Choice.
“The sources have waived their confidentiality,” Hogan said. “They’re not relying on the promises of the reporters. . . . It’s getting curiouser and curiouser.”
Indeed. If they already know the identity of the source, why did they continue the prosecution of Cooper and Miller?
This is quite the fight and it will have some major repercussions that could last a very long time. This administration is famous for shifting blame – instead of ponying up with the identity of the source who outed Valerie Plame, they’ve shifted the focus to these 2 reporters – a Rovian plan that has been very successful.
So, the pressing question at this point is now this: when will the public finally be given the name of this person and how will they be dealt with? It’s time to put the focus back on them and their vile actions.
The NYT issued a statement saying it will continue to support Judith Miller in this case.
You can read Time magazine’s full statement online here.
Update [2005-6-30 12:16:26 by catnip]: AP has Robert Novak’s reaction:
Novak, who has not been held in contempt, has not commented on his involvement in the investigation.
He noted that one of its reporters served 40 days in jail in 1978 in a similar dispute
heh-heh-heh…
As to the admin shifting the blame, i’m not so sure that’s what is going on here. I suppose if Fitzgerald is going for the perjury charges he’d want to do it just this way. If anything, perhaps he’s sending a message to the GOP cheerleaders.
I can dream, can’t i?
I think it’s going to be next to impossible to figure all of this out until we get the full story. This is a very messy situation from where I’m sitting.
…but since it is, please, please, please let those notes show Cooper on one side of a conference call, with the other side being Rove and Bolton.
Absolutely. My suspicion has been Bolton from the beginning. Nothing more than intuition to go on at first but, after watching the hearings and senate discussions about his nomination, it would surprise me if it wasn’t him.
to be a bit nervous today.
This would make for an interesting Fourth of July weekend if it turns out to be Bolton, and Bush appoints him to the U.N. over the holiday recess.
Via Rove or Bolton? I mean the guy has literally disappeared hasn’t he? How does someone like that survive? I mean what is he living on? A payoff? Ah, maybe blackmail? I know, I know but I always like the intrigue.
I know that our legal sytem can end up taking strange paths, but I have just not seen how justice will prevail in the Plame investigation.
We know Novak published the story, but he’s untouched. So is it OK to publish the names of American intelligence agents? Apparently it’s OK.
Cooper and Miller are going to go to jail, but they didn’t publish the story, and now we hear that Fitzgerald already knows their source. So why send them to jail to learn something he already knows? And I’m assuming that this means know in a sense that it will stand up in court.
This sure looks like a travesty to me, but I am no lawyer. I keep hearing that Cooper’s and Miller’s testimony will be used to procescute somebody for lying under oath, but it sure looks like we’re slamming a bunch of reporters and nothing more than that.
Then I keep hearing that the “defense” being used is that this “somebody” didn’t know Plame was a CIA agent? Well, wasn’t that the point? That she worked at the CIA and had influence? I say drag this so and so into PUBLIC court and let him make that defense. He will HAVE TO BE DISMISSED from the Whitehouse even if that defense works. So sometimes you win the case, and sometimes you lose, but sometimes a loss is almost as good as a win.
This is so much crap!
The media is already to blame for NOT keeping the public informed about what is really going on within this administration.
It’s about time they quit their complaining and start doing some real reporting.
Good point.
It’s not a matter of whether Time is doing “the right thing.” As I understand it from comments made within the last couple of days, it is legally required as a corporate entity to follow the judge’s order.
But I’m with Meteor Blades on this one: I surely do hope that Cooper was having a chat with Bolton and Rove. Maybe Cheney, as well. And that they all get the book thrown at them for perjury, if not treason.
Legally, the corporation is bound by the court’s decision. My poll question was more geared towards the ethical sense of this issue.