Scheer: What Judy Forgot: Your Right to Know

[realFedUp]

Scheer's always good...

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-scheer1nov01,0,5045529.column?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

What Judy forgot: Your right to know
Robert Scheer

November 1, 2005

THE MOST intriguing revelation of Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald's news conference last week was his assertion that he would have presented his indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby a year ago if not for the intransigence of reporters who refused to testify before the grand jury. He said that without that delay, "we would have been here in October 2004 instead of October 2005."

Had that been the case, John Kerry probably would be president of the United States today.

snip

It is deeply disturbing that the public was left uninformed about such key information because of the posturing of news organizations that claimed to be upholding the free-press guarantee of the 1st Amendment. As Fitzgerald rightly pointed out, "I was not looking for a 1st Amendment showdown." Nor was one necessary, if reporters had fulfilled their obligation to inform the public, as well as the grand jury, as to what they knew of a possible crime by a government official.

How odd for the press to invoke the Constitution's prohibition against governmental abridgement of the rights of a free press in a situation in which a top White House official exploited reporters in an attempt to abridge an individual's right to free speech.

continued

[demjuli]

1. That second paragraph just breaks my heart n/t

:cry:

[Dhalgren]

2. Great editorial. Hits the nail squarely on the head...

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. It was clearly in Miller's own interest to help the smear of Wilson

She had pushed WMD lies. Any doubt thrown on a person who tried to expose another WMD lie (even if it wasn't one that Miller herself had been directly involved in) would help her - the image of a CIA that 'ignored the evidence' would be useful to her. And a delay in the truth coming out helped her too - she got employed for another year, for a start. It also meant there was more chance of a White House similarly interested in covering up the WMD lies being able to fix the facts once again.

[KoKo]

7. Her fear must have been enormous to have spent 85 days in jail...

just on the belief that she would be rewarded in a coverup. The confidence is astounding. It does make one wonder about the power of the Bushies that so many would tamper with elections and spend huge lawyer fees convinced that they would never be found out.

I guess their faith that Ted Olson's expertise in arguing before the Supremes would work once again to cover a fraud. And, they took the chance if they lost they would go to jail and they still refused to talk. Amazing...

[bananas]

4. I just heard it mentioned on WPR.org

people should call all the talk shows about this.

[realFedUp]

5. about Scheer's column or the topic in general?

either would be a good idea. The idea that
the stall by reporters and their bosses
affected the election should be talked about.

[bananas]

6. Scheer's column

they were taking calls about what kind of stories they should do in the future, what guests to have, someone called in and talked about the Scheer column.