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Contributors
Cliff Kincaid- Contributor
Cliff Kincaid, serves as editor of the Accuracy
in Media (AIM)
Report. A veteran journalist and media critic, Cliff has
appeared on the Fox News programs Hannity & Colmes and
The O'Reilly Factor, where he debated O'Reilly on global
warming, the death penalty,
and the homosexual agenda. He was a guest co-host on CNN's Crossfire
(filling in for Pat Buchanan) in the 1980s, where he confronted
the then-Libyan Ambassador to the U.N. with evidence of Libyan
involvement in international terrorism. Through his America's
Survival, Inc., organization (www.usasurvival.org), he has been
an advocate on behalf of the families of victims of terrorism
and has published reports and held conferences critical of the
United Nations. His articles have appeared in the Washington
Post, Washington Times, Chronicles, Human Events, Insight, and
other publications. He served on the staff of Human Events for
several years and was an editorial writer and newsletter editor
for former National Security Council staffer Oliver North at
his Freedom Alliance educational foundation. He has written or
co-authored nine books on media and cultural affairs and foreign
policy issues. Cliff is married and has three sons.[go to
Kincaid index]
 Reporters
Are Not Above The Law
Rampant hypocrisy…
[Cliff Kincaid] 7/20/05
Republican
Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, who is usually a reliable conservative,
is promoting a “federal
shield law” for reporters. It has gotten some publicity
in the wake of attempts by a Special Counsel to force reporters
Matt Cooper of Time magazine and Judith Miller of the New York
Times to reveal their “confidential” and anonymous
sources in the case of CIA operative Valerie Plame, whose identity
was disclosed by columnist Robert Novak. The New York Times urged
the appointment of a special counsel, but doesn’t want
its own journalist to provide testimony in the case that he
is pursuing. What hypocrisy.
This hypocritical attitude may explain why Pence,
the main sponsor of the bill in the House, has only 36 co-sponsors,
and Senator
Richard Lugar, the main sponsor of the bill in the Senate, has
only 8 co-sponsors. The vast majority of congressional representatives
don’t seem to agree that journalists should deserve special
rights or protections, and why calling oneself a journalist should
be a way to avoid responsibility under the law and report evidence
of criminal activity, especially in national security cases.
A federal shield law would enable reporters to avoid providing
evidence of criminal activity to federal authorities or in federal
proceedings.
However, in the wake of the naming of former
FBI official Mark Felt as the Watergate source “Deep throat,” Pence
is promoting his federal shield law for journalists.
Bill McConnell of Broadcasting & Cable magazine reports
that Pence believes that there are two things that are clear
about Felt’s role in the Watergate scandal. “Deep
Throat exposed corruption in high places because of his absolute
confidence that his identity would be protected, and Deep Throat
would not have that protection today," he said.
But how can that be? There was no federal shield
law back then, and there isn’t one today. And why is it automatically
the case that Felt should have had his identity protected? If
we are to believe the Woodward/Bernstein version of history,
Felt had evidence of criminal activity but didn’t go to
the authorities. Instead, he gave the information to Woodward
in a garage. He took the law into his own hands, violating the
law in the process. Now Woodward and Felt’s family are
trying to cash in. Is that something we want to encourage?
The media certainly want us to believe that it
is fashionable to honor or even glorify Felt for his reported
role as Deep Throat,
and Pence wants to protect the media when they use such sources.
Pence says that, “Unless Congress enacts a federal media
shield law, it is likely there will be no more Deep Throats because
of the risk that government officials face by revealing information
that the public has a right to know. Congress should ensure the
accountability that attends confidential sources and a free and
independent press.”
The fact is, however, that confidential sources
can also be used to destroy innocent people. Consider the case
of former
government scientist Steven Hatfill, whose life was ruined because
government officials leaked false information to the press about
him. Hatfill was falsely linked to the post 9/11 anthrax attacks
and was even labeled a “person of interest” by then-Attorney
General John Ashcroft. But he was never charged and there is
still no evidence against him. Hatfill has filed suit, against
the government and the press, and we hope he is successful. But
if there were a federal shield law, Hatfill might not be able
to force journalists to identify the anonymous government sources
who damaged his reputation and destroyed his career. For the
sake of justice and clearing an innocent man’s name, the
journalists who smeared Hatfill should identify the government
officials who orchestrated the campaign against him.
This is a
big case - bigger than the Cooper/Miller case. Nine news organizations
have been subpoenaed in the Hatfill case.
Those news organizations should not be able to hide behind a
federal shield law in order to protect the government officials
who smeared Hatfill.
Rep. Pence is a good congressman who usually
does the right thing. And it is tempting to go to the defense
of the press as
a guardian of the public’s right to know. But Pence learned
the wrong lesson from Felt being named as Deep Throat. Felt should
have pursued other avenues for justice in that case. He could
have gone to the Grand Jury or Watergate Judge John Sirica. Instead,
he went to a reporter, who has earned millions of dollars and
stands to earn millions more with another book, this one on “the
man behind Deep Throat.” Felt, assuming he was Deep Throat,
decided to leak confidential information for various motives,
including that he was passed over by Nixon for FBI director.
Now he suffers from a stroke and dementia and babbles about making
money as a celebrity. This is not something we should encourage.
What’s worse is that 30 years later, as the Hatfill case
shows, the FBI is still out of control. We don’t need a
new law to encourage more irresponsible and false reporting from
journalists getting handouts from the FBI and doing the dirty
work of corrupt government agents or officials. Reporters should
have to answer for what they report. And if they don’t
want to face justice, they should go to real jails, not country
club prisons or “house arrest” in their own comfortable
homes. tRO
copyright
2005 Accuracy in Media
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