Comments on: Should journalists protect their sources?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Jul 2005 13:26:37 +0000

"I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it." Thomas Jefferson

Ah, so Thomas Jefferson and I have something else in common. But that doesn't make the free press any less important.

I'm not saying the government doesn't have the right to wage war. But it does not have the right to suppress the rights granted in the Constitution.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Jul 2005 13:23:52 +0000

Who is a journalist? Anyone who owns a press, or who is able to convince someone who owns a press to print what s/he writes. If you can produce a press card issued by the publication and a copy of the publication, you’re a journalist. PERIOD.

I’ve had mixed feelings on whether journalists should be licensed the way doctors and engineers are licensed, but since there is no objective way to determine whether a journalist is qualified, making journalism into a licensed profession would also eliminate a free press.

By that definition, anyone with a dime in his pocket and Kinko’s around the corner is a journalist. That’s precisely the idea.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Jul 2005 00:44:06 +0000

In reply to Anonymous. Amen, Don. Well said.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 18:48:32 +0000

Dave, you said:
"It’s a lot easier for the CIA to get another operative."
and
"Ms. Miller’s source certainly changed the life of that CIA operative, but is that along the lines of murder?"

Now, it’s not my nation and I don’t really have a vested interest in the matter, but when an undercover intelligence operative is revealed, it’s not just inconvenient – it’s dangerous. And it’s not just dangerous for them, it’s dangerous for any and every other operative they’ve worked with or even unwittingly come in contact with. Revealing one person’s name could result in a lot of people dying. It’s possibly an open question whether it would be murder, as it might be through due legal process. Spies of the USA in other countries may very well be criminals liable for the death penalty. However, the reporter who revealed that one person’s name – pulled the threat that started the whole thing unravelling – would still be responsible for the deaths – or even just revelations. They’d be betraying USA interests and USA employees.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 13:49:10 +0000

Who exactly is a journalist? Someone with a degree in journalism? Employed by a publication with a circulation greater than x? With a journalist’s licence issued by the state?

I would not want there to be a state-recognized class of "Legitimate Journalists" who have more rights than the rest of us. If we want every man to have a confidentiality privilege for anything he publishes, maybe that’s okay.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 05:57:53 +0000

"I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it."
Thomas Jefferson

I believe the terrorists have declared war. Congress can only accept their declaration and it’s four years to late for that.
How many New York’s, Madrid’s, and London’s will it take before we realize there are people, professing a violent religion, that wish to kill us?

"European merchants supply the best weaponry,
contributing to their own defeat."
Saladin