Why Journalists Are Hated

Step 1: Demand laws to protect journalists and their anonymous sources.

Step 2: Reveal the identity of an anonymous plaintiff.

(via Atrios.)

On the matter of Valerie Plame, it's disgusting to see the actions of Matthew Cooper, Judith Miller, and specifically Time Magazine. After months of carping about how journalists should have the right to break the law (by withholding evidence of a felony) Time finally caves entirely and hands over Cooper's notes. Personally, I think that if you're going to break the law - something good journalists would actually have to do on occasion - you have to be willing to face the consequences. Hell, Quakers have gone to prison rather than fight in wars. In the case of Cooper and Miller, who are simply protecting treason, it's disgusting to see them wrap themselves in the banner of a free press.