Download Off the Record: The Press, the Government, and the War Over Anonymous Sources AudioBook Free
When Norman Pearlstine—as editor in chief of energy Inc.—agreed to give prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald a reporter’s notes of your conversation with a “confidential source,” he was vilified for betraying the freedom of the press. But in this hard-hitting inside story, Pearlstine shows that “Plamegate” had not been the clear case it seemed to be—which confidentiality has turned into a weapon in the White House’s war on the press, a war fought with the unwitting complicity of the press itself.
Watergate and the publication of the Pentagon Papers are the benchmark incidents of government malfeasance exposed by the fearless press. But as Pearlstine explains with great clarity and brio, the press’s hunger for a new Watergate has made reporters susceptible to officials who use confidentiality to get their message out, even if this means leaking state secrets and breaking the law. Prosecutors appointed to investigate the federal government have investigated the press instead; news organizations such as The New York Times have defended the principle of confidentiality whatsoever costs—implicitly putting themselves above the law. Meanwhile, the use of unnamed sources has become common in everything from celebrity weeklies to the so-called papers of record.
What is usually to be done? Pearlstine calls on Congress to pass a federal shield law protecting journalists from the needless intrusions of government; at exactly the same time, he calls on the press to mention its sources whenever you can. Off the Record is a powerful argument with the vividness and narrative drive of the best long-form journalism; it will spark controversy among the people who run the government—and among the people who tell their stories.
Watergate and the publication of the Pentagon Papers are the benchmark incidents of government malfeasance exposed by the fearless press. But as Pearlstine explains with great clarity and brio, the press’s hunger for a new Watergate has made reporters susceptible to officials who use confidentiality to get their message out, even if this means leaking state secrets and breaking the law. Prosecutors appointed to investigate the federal government have investigated the press instead; news organizations such as The New York Times have defended the principle of confidentiality whatsoever costs—implicitly putting themselves above the law. Meanwhile, the use of unnamed sources has become common in everything from celebrity weeklies to the so-called papers of record.
What is usually to be done? Pearlstine calls on Congress to pass a federal shield law protecting journalists from the needless intrusions of government; at exactly the same time, he calls on the press to mention its sources whenever you can. Off the Record is a powerful argument with the vividness and narrative drive of the best long-form journalism; it will spark controversy among the people who run the government—and among the people who tell their stories.
