New York Times "at serious risk of indictment by a vengeful White House"

The Gray Lady in shadow
Could publication of the domestic-spying story lead to indictment of the New York Times?
BY HARVEY SILVERGLATE

http://bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/multi_5/documents/05188679.asp

Fearful that his presidency could be swept into the same historical dustbin as Richard Nixon’s, an unrepentant President George W. Bush seems intent on prosecuting the sources who leaked to the New York Times the details of his administration’s warrantless domestic spying. But does Bush have the chutzpah to go after the Times itself?

A variety of federal statutes, from the Espionage Act on down, give Bush ample means to prosecute the Times reporters who got the scoop, James Risen and Eric Lichtblau, as well as the staff editors who facilitated publication. Even Executive Editor Bill Keller and Publisher Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger Jr., could become targets — a startling possibility, just the threat of which would serve as a deterrent to the entire Fourth Estate.

Legal means are one thing, but political will is another. If Bush goes after the Times, he could spark a conflagration potentially more destructive to a free press — or to his administration — than Nixon’s 1971 Pentagon Papers machinations, which included efforts to stop publication of the classified study of the Vietnam War, the aborted prosecution of leaker Daniel Ellsberg, and the intention to prosecute newspapers (and their employees) that ran the document. All backfired on Nixon.

Many believe that the Times performed an incalculably valuable service when it reported last month on a top-secret National Security Agency program — almost certainly unlawful — involving presidentially (but not court-) approved electronic surveillance of message traffic between people in this country and locations abroad. The leak investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) has begun. What has received virtually no attention is that the Times and its reporters, editors, and publisher are at serious risk of indictment by a vengeful White House concerned not so much with disclosure of national secrets as with revelation of its own reckless conduct.

:popcorn:

That's exactly what he needs...a whole bunch of public trials. Bring it on, asshole!

:popcorn: :beer:

the cost to the Times if they have to pay the legal fees if their reporters are hauled into court.

Although I'm not sure the NYT can ever regain it's patina.

Yep, the publicity would be great. Significant increase in traffic on the Web site and big pickup in newsstand sales. However, Pravda-on-the-Hudson has a long way to go before it regains credibility with thinking people.

I ignore anything that has a byline of Gerth, Seelye, Friedman, Tierney, Brooks, Kristof, Kucynski -- Jesus, the list is so long, why do I bother at all?

POTH still has some gems. Love Krugman, of course, but I also think Morgensen and Norris offer sage business wisdom and reporting that rivals their stellar competitors downtown. I'm generally distrustful of everything else, but that's just because I can't speak authoritatively about it.

:popcorn::beer::popcorn::beer:

NGU.

Considering everything the Times has done to bolster Preznit Pud's agenda for the last half-decade.

NYTs and the Bush Admin. suck.

Pathetic, isn't it?

close attention to what bushco does in the way of behaving like vengeful loons.

what's ironic is the nyt's has don a lot to promote the bush agenda -- and many here can certainly guess that if a liberal{i.e. indifferent at least to corporate interests} were to make it to the white house -- the nyt would be fairly merciless in it's constant criticism.

and no longer help wall-paper over Bush's many lies and failures.

Peace

Man, that would be wild if Bush did something like that. We bash the mainstream media, but really they are still a vital part of our democracy. If BushCo. did actually do this he would have NO friends in the media except the Moonie Times and the nutball internet sites.

Please spare me the saga about their heroics. They might get forced into becoming heroic, but it is more likely that a backroom deal will be cut in which the Times agrees to more self censorship and more "favorable" reporting of George. Watch for it, and don't forget you heard it here first.

wouldn't it be ironic to see bush go after the newspaper that backed him up on the invasion of Iraq??

sweet as revenge would be against the Times for their abysmal failures to provide an adequate check against administration lies, it would be even better to see them fulfill their mission as the fourth estate ... the much-too-corporate NY Times could potentially be our ally if they could ever break free from their corporate masters and tell the American people the truth ...

Instead of Election 2004.

We cannot live with a complicit media anymore.

...he may leave it bruised and a little rusty.
...righties like to talk about the intent of the Founders...
....I think this situation, and this president, are exactly why they chose to guarantee free speech
in the FIRST Amendment!
.....bring it on, Dubya. Watch your numbers go through the basement commode.

I would like to shoot all the Mo-Fuckers who are messing with my shit!

The only person in America whose privacy rights are guaranteed.

more and more outrage this would be a good way to do it.

Yea, yea, yea, I know NY Times has been less than perfect.

But still! A major newspaper. THE major liberal paper for a very long time.

Phew!

Do it *, show us your true spiteful self in full public view.

:nuke:

Radio... TV... Newspapers. Members of the press that don't cooperate are arrested, organizations that aren't are shut down.

Stupid asses haven't learned you can't hide from the truth, and the only reason they have got away with so much, is because nobody can believe people can be so backward still.
Life is like a mirror, what you put out, is what you have to receive, and thanks in part to all the data mining lately, its for every one to see.

Prosecutes the media that reports the crimes it commits. Hard to believe that anyone can tolerate this administration.

just askin'.

the man is a sociopathic alcoholic fucktard. I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to see him go full throttle after such a bastion of journalistic excellence.

He would be well and truly fucked in the American public's mind.

the more they scream, the more we know we've hit a nerve.

The New York Times has been hiding your dirty laundry in its basement for a long, long time. Maybe the NYT needs to show the world what they've been covering up for you all this time.

Go ahead, you rabid mongrel, bite that hand that's been feeding you all these years. Make an example of the NYT for all other news media, too.

bush is going off the deep end.

As you say Bush is near going off the deep end. The thought is more than a little bit frightening.

Once completely exposed it's unlikely they'll just walk off the stage.

:popcorn::popcorn:

;)

.... if you haven't done anything wrong then you shouldn't mind the press reporting what you have done.

Seriously - this (going after the NYT) would be the biggest mistake, in terms of damage to himself, that Bush could ever make. I hope he let's his vindictive petty side write a check that his underachieving ass cannot cash. In other words, bring it on, moron.

This could prove his downfall, if everything is made public. Can't wait!

Operation Mockingbird
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmockingbird.htm

(scroll down past the ads !)

(King Geogre Bush) in this country?

They buy ink in tanker cars.

Bush is picking a fight with the wrong people. Nixon tried and got his *ss kicked.

And Bush will be forced to provide all sorts of information in a trial that he'd rather never saw the light of day.

Not to mention, what are the odds of picking 12 Republicans in a New York City jury? (or Washington D.C. for that matter..)

They'll get slapped down on this and will look vindictive and petty.

Doug D.

:evilgrin:
rocknation

...to scramble to their knees before the Pissypants Prince...and then publish the truth.

If Risen hadn't had a fast-looming publication date for a book that spilled the NSA spying secrets, the NYT top staff would still be sitting on that particular crock o' crap, making sure not a drop spilled or a whiff of stench waifted from under the clamp-down.

The NYT editors and publisher are in the cross-hairs because they couldn't keep a reporter from writing a book and telling the truth. So, now the cat is bagless, they outed what they knew about wiretapping...same thing that Risen knew and was about to publish...because they didn't want Risen to get all the attention while they were standing there looking clueless.

Not to mention, the NYT upper eschelon didn't want to answer why their reporter had info he had to release in a book, info they promised to keep secret for *, ugly anti-Constitutional behaviour that the NYT wouldn't report about the president spying cause the top dogs at the Times had promised * a pass.

Very dirty stuff.

I suppose BushLeague was livid that the Times upper-crust hadn't somehow "permanently silenced" Risen before he wrote a book...since Risen was their reporter.

By the way, when's Judy going to get her medal...Heckcuvajob, Judy.

everybody is going to want a copy to learn the details.

Is there no end to the outrages committed and contemplated by this demented monster?

When the hell is he finally going to go over the line and be eaten alive by his own greed, quest for unlimited power, and arrogance??

who also call the shots for him. You know, the evil old power mongers, from another era, who really run the show.

As our VP would say, "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste..."

Sancho, my lance.

But you can bet your ass that the reporter is going to be called upon to reveal his sources or go to jail, which is effectively the same thing. And the spinmeisters will try like hell to slime the entire media.

from the cia. you know, like the kind of people who would tell you that there are no wmds in iraq.

Maybe he'll dust off the Alien and Sedition Act and charge them under that. Since Bush has unlimited wartime powers to disregard laws passed by Congress I guess he can also resurrect laws repealed by Congress too.

Huh?

How could the Reporters/Media be charged w/ANYTHING, let alone espionage?

Wouldn't the "criminal" in this case be the gov't whistleblower who leaked this information to the Times?

This would be like charging Robert Novak for the Valerie Plame leak crime. And while Novak is indeed scum, no one has suggested that he's legally culpable, have they? Or is he just out of danger bcz he cooperated w/ Fitzgerald?

Can someone please explain?

Just declare them enemy combatants.

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

:nopity:

is NOT the press, the Times of the Pentagon papers

and don't forget, Daniel Schor lost his CBS job b/c of his reporting illegal CIA activities

http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/schorrdanie/schorrdanie.htm

....

Following Nixon's resignation Schorr was assigned to cover stories involving possible criminal CIA activities at home and abroad. Schorr soon achieved a scoop based upon on a tip he received about an admission by President Ford regarding CIA assassination attempts. The comment had come in an off-the-record conversation with the editors of the New York Times. Schorr's report forced the Rockefeller commission investigating the CIA to broaden its inquiry, and prompted an exclamation from former CIA chief Richard Helms referring to him as "Killer Schorr."

Commenting on his journalistic method, more akin to print journalism than conventional television journalism, Schorr has said, "My typical way of operating is not to stick a camera and a microphone in somebody's face and let him say whatever self-serving thing he wants to say, but to spend a certain amount of time getting the basic information, as though I was going to write a newspaper story.... may end up putting a mike in somebody's face, but it is usually for the final and hopefully embarassing question."

Soon after making these remarks, Schorr found himself at the center of a huge controversy involving both journalistic ethics and constitutional issues. Schorr came into possession of the Pike Congressional Committee's report on illegal CIA and FBI activities. Congress, however, had voted not to make the report public. In hopes of being able to publish the report Schorr contacted Clay Felker of the Village Voice, who agreed to pay him for it and to publish it. To Schorr's suprise, instead of supporting him, many of his colleagues and editorialists around the country excoriated him for selling the document. Making matters worse was Schorr's initial reaction, which was to shift suspicion from himself as the person who leaked the documents to his CBS colleague Leslie Stahl.

Schorr managed to turn opinion around when, after being subpoened to appear before a House Ethics committee, he eloquently defended himself on the grounds that he would not reveal a source. While this put off the congressional bloodhounds it certainly didn't satisfy some of the wolves at CBS, among whom was Chairman William S.Paley, who wanted Schorr fired. Schorr and CBS News executives resisted until the story of the internal dissension over Schorr's conduct broke during an interview he did with Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes. As a result Schorr resigned from CBS News in September of l976. A year later he wrote about it all in his autobiographical account, Clearing the Air.

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