I am not quite sure why the Albuquerque Journal used its "Career Marketplace" section today to present two stories on the courts vs. the press ( "...a trend that is making the new media nervous...,") but it did. Maybe it's the Journal's way of marking Sunshine Week,.
In any case, the basic story explains that the courts are going after reporters for information, with reporters most often ducking or resisting to protect their sources. It notes that several reproters have recently been found in contempt of court.
The story mentions New York Times reporter Judith Miller and Time Magazine reporter Matt Cooper, who are appealing their contempt convictions for refusing to name their sources in the Valerie Plame case. And there's a big color photo of the pair.
Keeping people up to date on the isue of courts vs. reporters is praiseworthy
I do notice, however, that the stories - there's a sidebar listing cases where news people have been jailed or fined since 1994 - ignore the politics of the Miller/Cooper subpoenas.
Miller never wrote about Valerie Plame. Nor, I think did Cooper; I am not absolutely sure in his case. What I do remember clearly is:
• Valerie Plame, wife of a critic of the President, was outed as a CIA agent by rightist columnist Robert Novak, who relied on White House sources for his information.
• It's illegal to blow the cover of a CIA operative.
• The special prosecutor recruited to determine the identity of the White House leaker has interviewed Novak.
• Novak is a friend of the White House.
• Novak has not been cited for contempt.
• The special prosecutor was named by former US Attorney General Ashcroft almost a year before the Presidential elections of November 2004, yet he did not finger anybody before the voting. (He still hasn't.)
OK, this is not the story of the courts vs. the press. It's a tangent. But it's hardly unrelated. And it's juicy, no?
Why not go after Novak? Why go after newspeople who got the dirt but decided not to write stories? Why is it taking so long to finger the White House leaker?
(Aside: Plame's husband opined that it was Karl Rove or somebody in his office. A Vice-Presidential aide has also been mentioned.)
Sounds like a coverup to me. And I wonder why the press doesn't pursue it vigorously.