I keep thinking the Valerie Plame scandal and the erosion of journalistic confidentiality enmeshed in it is a big ugly Catch-22: Either the integrity of anonymous sources is maintained and whoever leaked Plame's name gets away. Or the leak and the degree of journalistic confidentiality both get nailed. And can someone please explain why Robert Novak is as free as a jaybird amid all this?

Still, even though it looks like Karl Rove may well face forthcoming federal charges (wanna bet he'll probably get a presidential pardon in 2009?), a scary precedent has been set. The good news is that federal legislation is afoot to help provide a measure of protection for journalists. Free Press and the Newspaper Guild have raised calls to action. The Guild is even organizing a series of national rallies; no details just yet as to whether the Chicago Newspaper Guild has anything planned.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed on this website are those of the individual members of Chicago Media Action who authored them, and not necessarily those of the entire membership of Chicago Media Action, nor of Chicago Media Action as an organization.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.