Reply #34: Why? [View All]

Yes, treason and crime. But dammit, I cannot get past the belief that a journalist being forced to reveal a source - any source, for any reason - is a bad thing.

Why should journalists be able to protect criminals? Even attorneys and doctors don't have absolute confidentiality rights in all situations... why should journalists?

If whoever committed the CRIME of leaking Valerie Plame to the journalists had NO expectation that the journalists could not be legally compelled to reveal who they were (as the dumbass SHOULD have, since that's the law), they wouldn't have been compelled to commit the CRIME in the first place. The criminal's misguided belief that the journalists could have legally refused to reveal who they were was no doubt WHY they went ahead and committed the crime.

None of this is anything new. Journalists have not had absolute confidentiality rights in all situations any more then attorneys or doctors. No precedent is being set here. In fact, should the court have ruled that Miller and Cooper COULD keep their source(s) protected in this situation, that WOULD have set a precedent... and a dangerous one... it would have given a clear signal to this administration that even under the law, THEY are exempt from facing the consequences of their actions.