Confidentially, journalists need to put the reader first

My heart skips a happy beat when politicians laud the importance of a free press. Then my journalistic brain tightens the reins. Why would statesmen trumpet the cause of the press, so often an organism that checks politicians?

For many politicians, a special prosecutor's investigation into the public naming of a CIA agent has turned into a season of press defense in the form of a shield law.

Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna told a gathering of Northwest newspaper publishers in Spokane late last year that "my philosophy is, a free society requires a free press." He is right. McKenna has drafted a shield law that is in step with his efforts to make government more open. McKenna's law would create attorney/client-type confidentiality for journalists and sources.

All well and good, right? Maybe not. A shield law has to define who is a journalist. How is that precisely done with technology stretching the definitions of journalism?

Once journalists are classified, a door opens for future legislation of journalism. I cannot help but imagine what happens when McKenna, and others, like King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, who support McKenna, are replaced by politicians who would use the shield law as a way to regulate the press.

The First Amendment of the Constitution, which forbids Congress from making laws that infringe on the press, is not a guarantee. Like everything in the Constitution, press infringements can be debated, interpreted and changed. A number of seemingly benign additions to the shield law could calcify around the First Amendment and transform the press into a spectator of the defeat of democracy.

I also worry that the press' warm embrace of the shield law masks deeper problems with journalism. The CIA-leak investigation has been a messy affair that has exposed systemic problems with how the press, particularly the Washington, D.C., press corps, covers government.

The collective groan from journalists is enough to make one think helpful leaks are going to dry up. Doubtful. People love a good story, especially if they're responsible for it.

The investigation has shown how the vice president's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, used reporters to discredit an outspoken diplomat. Now former-New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who investigated the story but never wrote it, went to jail for nearly three months because she would not identify Libby as her source.

Much of what happened with Miller and the other Capitol Hill reporters swept up in the investigation could have been avoided or mitigated had they not been so reliant on granting anonymity to Libby and, at the very least, been more honest with their editors.

What was gained? Who was protected? How did any of this serve the reader?

The use of unnamed sources is necessary but abused. Some stories would never be written if it were not for a journalist assuring a source confidentiality. Problem is, the unnamed source has crept into the daily report with frightening regularity. Mundane stories, especially from Washington, D.C., are littered with quotes by Somebody Close to the Situation.

So this is where we are. Journalists and politicians teaming up to protect sources. Too bad that the impetus for this push was another scandal for The New York Times and a source who has been indicted for perjury, obstruction of justice and lying.

Instead of relying on politicians for protection, journalists should put their trust in the First Amendment, which has worked thus far, and practice responsible journalism that puts the reader first.

During McKenna's short tenure as attorney general, he has ensured more access to the workings of government with an open-records law. He clearly understands what is needed to keep democracy from disintegrating.

Journalists need to understand the damage done by reflexively granting sources confidentiality. By doing so, we undercut the support of the McKennas and, more importantly, we lose the trust of readers.

Once that happens, there is nothing a law can do to protect journalism.

Ryan Blethen's column will appear regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is rblethen@seattletimes.com