So You Want to be a Media Source…
March 10, 2008 by Mary Clyens
From July 6, 2005:Today, NYT reporter Judith Miller and Time Magazine reporter Matt Cooper faced a civil contempt charge for failing to reveal the confidential White House source who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. “The Source” called Cooper at the last minute and waived the confidentiality, allowing Cooper to testify before the Grand Jury. While the contempt charge against Cooper was dropped, Miller was immediately remanded to custody and will serve up to 120 days in a D.C. jail.
Arguments over the first amendment aside (and I admit, that’s quite an argument to just lay aside…), today’s events bring us very close to the outing of the White House source. Karl Rove’s lawyer has confirmed that Rove was “a source,” but insists he was not the source who leaked Plame’s identity. If Rove is the source, he is not only a traitor for his role in the scandal, but he is also a coward for allowing a reporter to serve jail time for his crime.
In any event, it is a bit difficult to digest the fact that Judith Miller is now serving time, while Bob Novak — the man who actually exposed the identity of Valerie Plame — is free.
But the source story of the day doesn’t end with Karl — er, the CIA leaker. Today, Woodward’s book on Deep Throat (Mark Felt, as revealed last month) was published, and in an odd coincidence, L. Patrick Gray — the FBI chief whose promotion was the likely motive for Felt’s leaks to Woodward — died today.
As a neat aside (and bringing the odd coincidences full circle), Joseph Wilson’s NYT op-ed titled “What I Didn’t Find in Africa” — the expose that led the White House to exact revenge by outing Wilson’s wife — was published by the Times two years ago… today. Weird, huh?
