bRight & Early

Jim Lynch March 5th, 2006 10:17 am

Ever since the press wrote, “Caesar to appear at the Senate on the 15th,” leaks have been a part of the news. Many times they are innocuous. Often they are on purpose — the infamous trial balloon. We have come to expect them and are seldom surprised to hear from anonymous sources and the rest of the un-named.

But some leaks do undermine efforts that are secret for a reason. Those leaks need a washer. Now.

The Bush administration, seeking to limit leaks of classified information, has launched initiatives targeting journalists and their possible government sources. The efforts include several FBI probes, a polygraph investigation inside the CIA and a warning from the Justice Department that reporters could be prosecuted under espionage laws.

As easy at it is to take TOM to task for printing these stories, the real problem in my opinion is those who are leaking the information. At it’s simplest (and nothing is ever entirely simple) without those providing the leaked information TOM wouldn’t be able to pass it on.

I agree with AJ Strata (The Strata-Sphere), who says, “It’s about damn time“.

These leaks are not about whistleblowers – there is a process for that which, surprisingly, doesn’t involve becoming rich off media stories, book deals with media conglomerates, and speaking fees that triple or quadruple the annual income of a mid your typical level [bureaucrat]. If you don’t think these people are selling us all out for money, then you don’t know DC. There are plenty of ways to deal with illegal acts which, unfortunately for the media, don’t pay a dime and don’t make the news.

And while money is undoubtedly a key component, agenda plays a big part of the rational for both the leakers and the press.

More from the WaPo story:

Some media watchers, lawyers and editors say that, taken together, the incidents represent perhaps the most extensive and overt campaign against leaks in a generation, and that they have worsened the already-tense relationship between mainstream news organizations and the White House.

“There’s a tone of gleeful relish in the way they talk about dragging reporters before grand juries, their appetite for withholding information, and the hints that reporters who look too hard into the public’s business risk being branded traitors,” said New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller, in a statement responding to questions from The Washington Post. “I don’t know how far action will follow rhetoric, but some days it sounds like the administration is declaring war at home on the values it professes to be promoting abroad.”

Of course this response is expected from TOM. Leaks are key to what they do as every media outlet tries to out do the other. Still I disagree with Keller’s assessment, that this is a “gleeful” attempt to get TOM. You don’t fix a leaky faucet by replacing the drain. You have to put a washer in the faucet itself. Bluto, posting at The Jawa Report, offers his opinion on where the press is a contributor to the problem.

The unauthorized release of classified materials to the press is treason. And treason has never been an American value, except that is, among certain elements of the mainstream press, who value circulation and book sales over the security of their countrymen.

There is very much a chicken/egg component to this. Without a leak source the media wouldn’t be able to reveal classified and sensitive information — Without an outlet to disseminate the information leakers would have no voice for their agendas or provider for their wallets.

I find that I agree with several comments I’ve read on the blogs posting on this story. To combine and condense their general premise, “this is a great idea, but I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Anyone who has ever had a leaky sink knows that they don’t fix themselves. In fact, unrepaired they only tend to get worse. As a nation at war we can not allow these leaks to continue. It’s time for a new washer. Quick.

• Good Ideas , The Old Media
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