Memo to CNN and any other news outlet or journalist tempted to repeat "details" without checking:

A reference this morning to Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers’ volunteer work for a group called Exodus Ministries left some people — including journalists — leaping to conclusions and assumptions. A few minutes ago,  CNN anchor Kyra Phillips said she heard on NPR and from "a number of people" that Miers was involved with the Exodus Ministries that says gay people can go straight with the help of Jesus. Even when her guest, constitutional law expert David Oblon, suggested she was talking about the wrong group — that Miers volunteered for a similarly named group in Dallas helping ex-convicts — she insisted on talking about how this might affect rulings on gay issues and Oblon actually started to talk about how "if it’s true that she was supporting the ex-gays, well, that tells you a little bit about her."

Actually, the whole thing tells me a lot more about the people making these statements. If you don’t know, don’t speculate. Find the answer. Don’t assume something you hear is gospel. Check it out. In this case, while they were babbling, I managed to find the right web site for Orlando-based Exodus International, where a press release clearly states:

"Harriet Miers, nominee
for the U.S. Supreme Court, served on the board of directors of Exodus Ministry in East Dallas, an organization that assists ex-offenders in finding jobs and places to live. The organization is in not
related to Exodus International, the world’s largest educational and informational outreach dealing with homosexuality." (The emphasis is theirs, not mine.)

This is not rocket science. I’ve been part of covering the nomination of a justice — Clarence Thomas worked in Missouri and had strong ties here, which made me part of the Time team looking into his background. If we’d gone around mentioning every piece of information we heard or came across without checking it a lot of misinformation would have been in the public record.

The ability to send words around the globe instantly via digits or satellite doesn’t mean you have to cut corners. If anything, it means you should be even more careful.

Coda: Find out more about the Exodus Ministries where Miers did volunteer.

Just saw Matt Cooper’s comment following his grand jury testimony today — the one  about not scooping himself by holding the details for a future issue of Time.  The magazine has a web site now and is no longer held hostage to weekly news cycles; if he put the pedal to the metal, we could read about it tonight.  Withholding that information any longer than logistically necesssary at this point will not help anyone.

Beyond that, I wonder if Cooper or his editors realize that answer sounds like Time is trying to capitalize on a sorry situation. Guess it makes some sense given the way it’s been handled up ’til now but I sure hope that’s not the case.

See also Not Above The Law — Not Below, Either  | Time Inc. Folds In First Amendment Case

 

This is tough. Time Inc. announced this morning that the magazine will "deliver the subpoenaed records" — ie turn over reporter Matt Cooper’s notes and source about Valerie Plame — in the hopes that the move "obviates the need for Matt Cooper to testify and certainly removes any justification for incarceration." Later, on sibling CNN, Time Inc. Editor in Chief Norman Pearlstine explained that he believed this was the best way to respond to the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the cases of Cooper and Judith Miller, that the First Amendment does not mean journalists are above the law and this is the rule of law.

But, he said, Time would continue to use confidential sources  and assure confidentiality because this is an unusual confluence of circumstances, the shield laws offer some protections and most cases wouldn’t end up with a Special Prosecutor. That’s if sources concerned about anonymity still want to be involved with Time, of course.

I’m sitting here with a small, blue three-ring binder labled "Time Editorial Guidelines" that I once consulted like a bible, back when I logged serious hours as a Time stringer. I still use the July 1987 memo from then-Time Inc. Editor in Chief Henry Grunwald as a bookmark; that’s Grunwald as in the late father in law of Matt Cooper.

On rare occasions, I had to promise confidentiality to sources. I did so with these words behind me:

"It is Time Inc. policy not to reveal the identity of a confidential source, even if an edit staffer is questioned about the source of the identity in litigation. The senior person, who may be required to testify with respect as to why the source was considered reliable, must be prepared to protect the confidentiality of the source."

That language and the rest of the section is aimed primarily at the use of confidential sources in what might be derogatory stories. And, Grunwald made it clear in that memo, that these were only guidelines, "not absolute rules of conduct." He wrote:

"There can be situations in which good journalistic judgment will indicate proceeding differently. The important point to remember is that Time Inc. journalism must continue to adhere to the high standards that have always prevailed within our organization."

According to an interview with Pearlstine in Folio, the company rewrote the most recent confidential source guidelines to make it clear to reporters and editors that protecting sources could lead to jailtime. I don’t know if the rewrite included a warning that confidentiality would be breached if Time Inc. lost in litigation — or that it would make that decision over the objection of the reporter.  Cooper told the  Wall Street Journal:

"A corporation is not the same thing as individual. They have different
responsibilities and obligations and there is no dishonor obeying a
lawful order backed with the force of the Supreme Court of the United
States. I prefer they not hand over documents that disclose the
identity of my sources, but that’s their decision to make." 

I understand Pearlstine’s concern that journalists not appear to
think they are above the law. But that doesn’t leave compliance as the
only course of action. Arthur Sulzberger Jr. understands that. So does
Judy Miller. (Disclosure: I also was a very active stringer for the
Times for years and Miller was one of my editors.) Sulzberger’s statement from this morning via the Times Online:

"We are deeply disappointed by Time Inc.’s decision to deliver the
subpoenaed records. We faced similar pressures in 1978 when both our
reporter Myron Farber and The Times Company were held in contempt of
court for refusing to provide the names of confidential sources. Mr.
Farber served 40 days in jail and we were forced to pay significant
fines. Our focus is now on our own reporter, Judith Miller, and in supporting her during this difficult time."

Pearlstine referred to the Supreme Court’s non-decision as limiting "press freedom in ways that will have a
chilling effect on our work and that may damage the free flow of
information that is so necessary in a democratic society." But it’s his decision, not that of the Supreme Court, that’s turning Time Inc. into an ice house.

Brrrr.

Harry Shearer, who’s already had an honorable mention here, uses his Huffington Post blog for a riff on the definition of a journalist. He suggests reading it in your best Casey Kasem voice — whatever you do, read the whole thing. Some of it rings true; we might wish some of it didn’t. It’s a tad long but that tends to be the case with riffs.  Just a taste:

Journalists like:

deadlines.
bylines.
a bigger news hole.
free food.

Journalists don’t like:
deadlines.
editors.
cramped press facilities at major news events.
media whores.

Journalists can be Anchors, but never Sales. They can be reporters, or
just repeaters. A journalist looks down on celebrities until the day he
becomes one.

A journalist spends too much time covering a story that gets too little
space so it can be skimmed by a reader who has too little time.