From Deseret News archives:
Times reporter says source deals are common
Barstow defends Miller's position in a UVSC speech
"In Washington, there are deals that are made at the outset to hearing information, which are very different than deals you make when you publish," said David T. Barstow, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Times reporter who spoke at Utah Valley State College on Wednesday.
Barstow sits in the Times newsroom next to Judith Miller, who was behind bars for 85 days. Barstow said he was not at all surprised when he learned Miller agreed to refer to Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who recently resigned as Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, as a "former (Capitol) Hill staffer."
Libby, who has been indicted in connection with the investigation into the leaking of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame, was the source that Miller went to jail to protect. Miller never wrote a story about Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, who disputed White House claims that Iraq was trying to obtain uranium from Niger. Miller apparently agreed during the interview with Libby that she would refer to him as someone tied to Congress.
Barstow said he believes that had Miller written a story, she would have renegotiated the way she would have referenced Libby.
"I know there is no way Judy would have used that attribution," he said.
While Miller's interviews with Libby have come under fire since her release from jail, Barstow provided no criticism of Miller during his UVSC speech. Miller is the target of criticism that she has been too friendly with the Bush administration, specifically in her reporting about weapons of mass destruction prior to the Iraq war.
Barstow praised Miller as a hard worker and said he visited her in jail, "so I have a more complicated view of it."
Miller's jail time is an example of how the press' job is becoming more difficult, Barstow said. Sources are drying up because they're afraid prosecutors will subpoena reporters.
"More and more records, the kinds of government records I depend on to tell stories, are being placed outside the public realm," Barstow said.
That forces journalists to depend on "government spinners" and anonymous sources, he said.
Journalists who have made unethical choices have also tarnished the profession, Barstow said, but the New York Times has new systems to prevent such problems.
Democracy is ultimately stifled when the public does not receive full and complete facts. Information needs to be transparent, Barstow said. Journalists should be "shielded" from having to reveal notes or conversations to courts.
"You can support a federal shield law," he said.
E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com
