Press Freedom and the Law

Rob Salkowitz clears away the ethical morass and explains why jailing Judith Miller is the right thing to do. From Emphasis Added:

The case of Miller and Cooper, and the mysteriously-unindicted Robert Novak, is the exact inverse of this situation. Here, a government official involved several reporters in a criminal conspiracy to disclose confidential information as part of a plot to discredit a political enemy, who was himself blowing the whistle on a government deception. That is, the goal of whoever told Novak and the others Valerie Plame’s identity was ultimately to distract and mislead the public by preventing Joe Wilson’s (true) claims from being taken seriously. In so doing, this person not only effectively ended the career of a key CIA operative during a time of national crisis (Plame was a specialist in nuclear proliferation), but put at potential risk an entire network of international intelligence assets. Even if this weren’t a crime, doing such a thing to gain political advantage is a shabby, disgusting and traitorous act. But it is a crime, under serious investigation by a Special Counsel.

I think, then, it’s proper to ask what purpose is being served by Miller’s silence? She is upholding the principle of confidentiality, and the bond of her personal word of honor, but toward the end of perpetuating a lack of accountability on the part of the government, and withholding information that the public has a right to know.

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In other words, the journalistic ethical mandate to serve the public by exposing government wrongdoing, that is, fulfilling the press' vital democratic function as governmental "fourth branch," trumps the journalistic ethical mandate of loyalty to the anonymous source. The whole defend-the-secret-guy concept really exists in order to allow the press to do its job more effectively. Miller's silence turns that whole idea upside down because in this case, her secret source, who most people believe is Karl Rove, leaked to her in order to deceive the public for nefarious ends. Rove is well aware of this journalistic ethic, and was twisting it for his own purposes: he screwed the press; the press owes him nothing.

And Miller is a naive idiot.

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