Keller's Thoughts on DC's Leaking
I've been calling and emailing journalists to try and get their reactions about the possible fallout for reporters since Porter Goss has been polygraphing the CIA for leakers. A certain drumbeat is going around that journalists should be questioned and put into jail. A few at the Washington Post have said, " no comment." One reporter from Congressional Quarterly said: "It would not only be a gross abuse of power but a violation of the very first Amendment."
Fishbowl DC has Bill Keller's full email response:
"Whatever the reason, I worry that we're not as worried as we should be. No president likes reporters sniffing after his secrets, but most come to realize that accountability is the price of power in our democracy. Some officials in this administration, and their more vociferous cheerleaders, seem to have a special animus towards reporters doing their jobs. There's sometimes a vindictive tone in way they talk about dragging reporters before grand juries and in the hints that reporters who look too hard into the public's business risk being branded traitors. 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 they profess to be promoting abroad....read on"