Last night I listened to part of
Fresh Air on NPR.
Terry Gross was speaking to Judith Miller, Matt Cooper and their lawyer (of course), about the contempt finding against them in the Plame investigation. The program talked a lot about legal precedents, and the issue of "journalistic privilege", to what extent public need of information outweighed First Amendment considerations, etc.
The part of the discussion that caught my ear, though, was when they tried to say that the current debate over protection for journalists wasn't a "left/right" issue.
Matt Cooper came out with the following, outstandingly obtuse line of reasoning:
- Usually it's liberals who are in favor of protecting journalists from government coercion.
- Right now, some conservatives in the congress are trying to pass "shield laws" that would give journalists that protection.
- Therefore - it's not a "right/left" issue QED
Let's recap:
Conservatives are trying to protect
the Bush Administration from having a traitor in their midst exposed, the press are collaborating, and that's
not a "right/left" issue?
These "intrepid investigative reporters" are trying to make us forget that liberals are trying to protect journalists from having to give up individuals acting in the public interest (whistle-blowers, etc.) to the government, while the conservatives are trying to protect members of the government who have committed a crime from being given up to the judiciary, in this case representing the public!
Any suggestions for combatting this right-wing attempt to hijack a liberal principle - protection of a Free Press? Any suggestions for how to communicate the fundamental difference between shielding a whistle-blower, and covering up for a traitor?