Here's one reason the mainstream media might be a little shy about digging too deeply into the darker corners of the Bush White House. Jail anyone?

Reporters sans frontières - 27 June 2005
"Reporters without Borders denounces a "retrograde and freedom-curtailing decision"*:

Reporters without Borders is very concerned about the decision by the Supreme Court of the United States on June 27, 2005, not to hear the cases of Judith Miller, of The New York Times, and Matthew Cooper, of Time magazine, each sentenced by a federal court to 18 months in prison for refusing to reveal their information sources. The two journalists have no further judicial recourse and are now facing actual incarceration.

[ . . . ]

Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper had refused to reveal their information sources to a special chamber charged with investigating the information leaks that led to publication in the press of the identity of a CIA operative, Valerie Plame. In this case, the White House was suspected of having released Mrs. Plame's name in retaliation against her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had publicly opposed President Bush's arguments in favor of the war in Iraq.

Judith Miller had investigated this matter on behalf of the New York Times, but had finally decided not to devote an article on it. In Time magazine's July 17, 2003 issue, Matthew Cooper had merely mentioned that "some government agents" had given Mrs. Plame's name to the press.

Here's my question. Why are Time and the New York Times, bastions of the so-called liberal media, the scapegoats in this government attempt to silence future Deep Throats? Why isn't Robert Novak, the man who published Valerie Plame's name and knows well which White House source gave him that information, being asked this question and convicted of contempt for not answering? I probably missed something important somewhere along the line, but why is he off the hook? It couldn't have anything to do with him being a useful and loyal rightwing crackpot, could it?

Just asking,
True Blue Liberal

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* The awkward "retrograde and freedom-curtailing decision" sounds much more elegant in the French title: ". . . une décision « rétrograde et liberticide » ". Liberticide should become an English word in these times, used in a sentence such as: "George W. Bush, you are accused by this Congress of liberticide, and are hereby impeached."