Imagine for a moment that you're a member of Congress, or an NSA staffer, or some person who knew what was going on. And, because you were concerned that what BushCo was doing was illegal, you decided to had to do something.
My best guess is that Rockefeller was one of the many leakers described in the NYT article. But who knows?
Anyway, what to do? Who can you go to? The GOP and Bush control all 3 branches of government. The DOJ has decided that Bush can do whatever he wants. Congress is firmly under the control of Delay and Frist.
Where do you go?
You go to the press, of course. You seek out an aggressive reporter and you leak your story to him or her. You find the most powerful newspaper you can, because you KNOW that BushCo will push back, hard, against your truth-telling. You know you have to go to the right reporter, the right paper.
So, you do it - you spill your guts, you tell the tale.
And what happens?
The press sits on the story for a freaking year.
What does that say about the press?