NY Times and intelligence leaks

[Alex]

Not that I approve of the WSJ doing it any more than the NY Times, the NY Times published first. Something can only be leaked in this manner once.


The other two newspapers were willing to comply with the government's request not to publish the story and only did so once the New York Times did so anyway.

Ultimately, I think that is what really upsets a lot of people about this one. The wiretapping story has a much stronger case for dissemination and yet the NYT waited a year to run it. On this story there is no real argument for why it needs to be reported now (the spector of future abuse was raised but that doesn't justify disclosure now of an otherwise legal operation) and rejected bi-partisan requests from both the White House and Congress to hold the story.

That's just how the newspaper world works. They'll sometimes agree to keep a secret but once that secret is revealed anyway they will cover it.