Time magazine stepped into today and said they’d hand over their notes regarding a Bush administration leak that compromised the identity of a CIA operative. Two reporters, one for Time and the other for the New York Times (NYT) wouldn’t reveal their sources and had been told by a district court judge to hand them over or head for the hoosegow. He gave them one week.
The case comes out of a Justice Dept. investigation looking for the source inside the Bush administration who leaked the operative’s name. Back in 2003, Bob Novak of the Chicago Sun-Times and CNN wrote a column naming Valerie Plame as a CIA agent after two “senior administration officials” had given him the information. Former diplomat Joseph Wilson IV, Plame’s husband, was quite critical of events leading up to the Iraq war. He claimed the “outing” was because of his criticism of the administration.
Time’s Matthew Cooper and the NYT’s Judith Miller apparently had the same information Novak received. While Cooper did some reporting on the issue, he never wrote a story. Miller didn’t write a story about the issue until weeks after Novak’s column.
The conservative pundit Novak has received some flak as to why he wouldn’t reveal any information about the situation and also why he won’t see any jail time either. Novak told CNN he couldn’t speak on the investigation based on advice from his attorney but when this incident was over he would “reveal all”.
While he wasn’t happy about reporters going to jail to protect sources, he maintained he wasn’t the reason why.
“Well, they are not going to jail because of me. Whether I answer your questions or not, it has nothing to do with that,” told CNN. “That’s very ridiculous to think that I am the cause of their going to jail. I don’t think they should be going to jail.”
Even though Time has agreed to turn in the notes, the reporters aren’t off the hook yet. Cooper and Miller could still head for the hoosegow for 4 months; the length of time the grand jury has left to consider the case and Time and the NYT could still face some hefty fines.
“The court concluded that a citizen’s duty to testify before a grand jury takes precedence over the First Amendment,” Time’s top dog Norman Pearlstine told the AP. “I do not agree with that, but I have to follow the laws like every other citizen.”
The New York Times didn’t agree with Pearlstine. Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the publisher of The New York Times issued a statement following Time’s decision.
“We are deeply disappointed by Time Inc.’s decision to deliver the subpoenaed records,” he said. “We faced similar pressures in 1978 when both our reporter Myron Farber and The Times Company were held in contempt of court for refusing to provide the names of confidential sources. Mr. Farber served 40 days in jail and we were forced to pay significant fines.
Neither Novak nor district attorney Fitzgerald has commented on the case but since Novak has not been threatened with jail, many assume he reached some type of agreement with the government.
Where this goes from here remains unknown. The result will probably be determined within the next seven days. Most critics of this investigation feel that if Cooper and Miller go to jail, it will be for nothing.
John Stith is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.
