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| Media Bias on Trial in Libby Case |
| Friday, November 04, 2005 |
Attorneys for Lewis "Scooter" Libby are likely to question whether the political bias of news outlets involved in the Leakgate case played a role in testimony by their reporters against top White House officials, reports the Wall Street Journal.
"Just wait until defense counsel starts examining their memories and reporting habits, not to mention the dominant political leanings in the newsrooms of NBC, Time magazine and the New York Times," warns the Journal in an editorial on Friday.
NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert - the star prosecution witness against Mr. Libby - should offer particularly fertile ground on this count.
His "Meet the Press" broadcast was among the first to showcase claims by Leakgate accuser Joe Wilson, the disgruntled former Clinton official who famously charged that the White House lied about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
After Wilson's wife was allegedly "outed" as a result of leaks now attributed to Libby and others, the Wilsons posed for two pictorial spreads that ran in Vanity Fair magazine, where Mr. Russert's wife, Maureen Orth, has served as special correspondent since 1993.
Another problem for prosecutors: Russert's claim that he had no way of knowing that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA before his conversation with Libby - when senior NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell, who works under Russert, has described Plame's CIA connection as "widely known."
Time Magazine's Matthew Cooper offers another troubling indication of political bias that defense attorneys could cite as evidence of a lack of objectivity by some of Libby's media accusers. Cooper is married to Mandy Grunwald, a longtime advisor to Hillary Clinton - who bashed Libby's alleged crime last week as "reprehensible."
Then there's the New York Times own Judy Miller, who finally gave up what she knew about Libby after an 85-day stint in jail.
"Rest assured," says the Journal, "that Ms. Miller's evocative self-description, 'Miss Run Amok,' will surface on cross-examination." |
posted by Jay Are @ 3:18:00 PM   |
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