Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Too Much: Looks like I missed out on a whole bunch of news while I've been away. I guess this blog was never meant to be comprehensive. So I'll just vent about the one thing that pisses me off the most.

Time Magazine is making a huge mistake by voluntarily giving up its source in the Plame case. The reporter, Matt Cooper, doesn't want break his promise of confidentiality, but the company is forcing him to. That's not only disrespectful to the reporter, but it hurts the entire journalism profession.

Would-be leakers now know that a reporter's word does not mean much, that a news agency can overrule the reporter at any time. And given just a little political and legal pressure, some organizations will crack.

The result will be fewer people leaking information to investigative journalists, fearing that the promise of confidentiality will not be a long-term agreement. And that will make it that much harder to expose wrongdoing in the government or other areas.