Journalists Under Fire in CIA Leak Case
By MATT APUZZO
Associated Press Writer
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-cia-leak-trial-journalists,0,3395775.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines
January 31, 2007, 6:45 PM EST
WASHINGTON -- Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is the
defendant but journalism seemed at times to be on trial Wednesday as
two reporters were questioned about their methods.
Libby's attorneys asked former New York Times reporter Judith Miller
about her spotty memory and former Time reporter Matthew Cooper about
his sloppy note-taking and inconsistent handling of confidential
sources.
It's exactly what journalism groups feared when the trial began. Roy
Peter Clark, an instructor at the Poynter Institute journalism center,
predicted when the trial started that it would make both government
spin doctors and reporters look bad.
The first part of that prediction came true early in the trial. On
Wednesday, journalists had their day.
"If you take that snapshot as representative of the whole industry, it
can make us look pretty bad," said Jane Kirtley, a media ethics
professor at the University of Minnesota.
Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President ***** Cheney, is
accused of lying to investigators about his conversations with
reporters about CIA operative Valerie Plame, the wife of a prominent
war critic.
Miller and Cooper originally refused to help Special Prosecutor
Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation, but they testified after losing
court battles. Miller served 85 days in jail.
Cooper co-authored a July 17, 2003 story entitled "A War on Wilson?"
in which he described the Bush administration's response to prominent
war critic Joseph Wilson. The story said "some government officials"
identified Wilson's wife as a CIA operative.
Cooper identified his two sources as Libby and White House aide Karl
Rove. He testified about a July 12, 2003 conversation in which he
asked Libby whether Wilson's wife was behind a CIA-sponsored trip to
investigate an Iraqi uranium deal.
On Wednesday, Cooper testified that Libby responded with the
off-the-record comment, "Yeah, I've heard that too," or "Yeah, I've
heard something like that, too."
When questioned, Cooper acknowledged that conversation was off the
record -- a term reporters normally accept as information that cannot
be used in print. Yet Cooper considered it confirmation that could be
used.
He also defended the article's headline by noting the question mark at
the end.
When Cooper described his conversation with Libby in a later story for
Time, Cooper did not say his discussion was off the record. He
described it as "background" material that could be used. He
acknowledged in court Wednesday that he also changed the wording of
Libby's quote for that story.
Cooper also said he didn't take any notes on that exchange or include
it in his memo to his editor and fellow reporters.
"I can't explain that," Cooper said. "It was late in the day. I didn't
write it down, but it is my memory."
His testimony underscores the fact that reporters do not share a
common understanding of what terms such as off-the-record and on
background mean.
Clark said cross-examination makes any profession look bad, from
emergency room doctors to high school teachers. The craft of
journalism, he said, isn't always pretty but that doesn't mean its
practitioners are irresponsible.
"In this case," Clark said, "the public will be watching sausage being
made."
--
There may come a time when the CO2 police will wander the earth telling
the poor and the dispossed how many dung chips they can put on their
cook fires. -- Captain Compassion.
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMverizon.net
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