Batfink's Beep -- 1-7-06

How screwed is the NY Times?

January 7, 2006

How much hot water is the New York Times in over the NSA leak? One Harvey Silvergate, who represented several parties in the Pentagon Papers litigation, a first amendment battle that pitted the Nixon administration against the Times, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post 35 years ago, thinks plenty:

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.

In his comically biased editorial (read it yourself, it's a hoot) Silvergate also suggests that it would take a lot of political will for Bush to actually press that case against the Times. From the tone of the piece, it seems like he's hoping Bush comes up short in that regard, and he goes on to cry about the danger to a free press such a prosecution would cause, but he is, after all, entitled to his opinions. He does seem worried, though. Almost as much as the ACLU, which recently purchased a full page ad comparing Bush to Nixon to try to scare the Administration off of taking on the Times for divulging national secrets.

So much for the far left; how about the near left? Well, Ed Koch, for one, thinks they're screwed, too:

In the past the president has not hesitated to go after those whom he has charged with violating national security laws. When the media demanded the administration find within its own circle those who violated the law by unmasking the cover of CIA agent Valerie Plame, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's ensuing investigation led to the indictment of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, and the jailing of Times reporter Judith Miller until she provided information to the grand jury about her sources.

Koch, to his credit, asserts that no one is above the law, including the New York Times. I didn't get the impression that Silvergate would agree. But then, the former NY mayor also suggests jury nullification as a way to let the Times off, should such a case actually go to a jury, so we know how he actually feels about it, too. At least he admits the Times apparently did commit a crime for the jury to rebel against a conviction on.

So it seems that there is the strong fear on the left that Bush will finally take on the press that has been throwing national security as well as integrity (Jayson Blair, anyone? How about Dan Rather?) in its effort to get Bush. How the public at large would react has, to my knowlege, anyway, not been polled yet. But it wouldn't be all bad, either way, for the issue of whether the press has the right to commit treason in wartime under the banner of a free press, were settled once and for all. If the public has a right to know anything, it ought to have the right to know that.

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