Miller's Time

"Mr. Sesno said he was also mindful that the particulars of the case were rather narrow. 'This is not a Pentagon Papers case,' he said. 'This is not the kind of case that, as a journalist, you'd want to go down for the count on.' "

Jeff Jarvis gives credit where he thinks it's due:

"Judith Miller is taking the brave move of protecting her source and I have to respect that even if others do not.

"And I am relieved for Matthew Cooper, getting his get-out-of-jail card at the last minute in the form of a dispensation to testify from his source. To quote a more charitable blog than the last one linked:

" The First Amendment may suffer for Cooper's decision, but telling your six year old son that you may not come back for 180 days to uphold press freedoms not granted under the scope of a federal investigation makes the decision easy.

"I've confessed that I'm not sure I would have the courage to go to jail and say goodbye to my children over professional privilege; I might be tempted to open an ice-cream stand instead."

Craig Crawford, the MSNBC and CQ commentator, says that since Cooper's informant spared him, "that leaves Miller's source(s) to do the same -- and end the cowardly hiding. These are lousy facts to advocate freedom of the press, I know, because the source(s) might have committed a crime. But this result goes way beyond the crummy facts of the case at hand.

"Thanks to the precedent being set in Miller's case, federal prosecutors in future cases will have the power to force reporters to reveal sources who are serving the public good. In other words, the power to threaten journalists with jail arising from this case will NOT be limited to the facts of this case. Good luck holding future prosecutors only to cases where sources allegedly committed treason. We will see this precedent cited in all sorts of attacks on the protection of sources."

In Slate, Walter Shapiro, a friend of Miller's, says: "I recognize that Judy Miller is a polarizing figure for many who opposed the invasion of Iraq. Slate itself has not always been complimentary about her work. But I am appalled by those who seem to be reveling in her jailing (incidentally, for a story that she never wrote) as retribution for the stories she did write during the run-up to the Iraqi War. Is this what the anti-war movement has come to?"

Arianna Huffington is outraged by the president's top political adviser:

"How is it that the second most powerful man in America is about to take a fall and the mainstream media are largely taking a pass? Could it be that the fear of Karl Rove and this White House is so great that not even the biggest of the media big boys are willing to take them on? Does the answer to that one go without saying? . . .

"From the way they've acted so far, the mainstream media would rather this scandal just go away (bloggers take note)."