Mini-editorial: Leakers are lawbreakers, not heroes

AlwaysWrite

AlwaysWrite

Addicted Member
I was a longtime member of the media -- although unlike most of my peers, I was always a staunch conservative -- but I find it extremely disturbing that leakers of government documents are treated with respect and hero status by the lamestream press.

Some media moguls claim they can't do their job if so-called leakers aren't there to feed them with information. But no matter how you look at it, those leakers have chosen to engage in a criminal act -- or at a minimum, they have violated employment agreements not to steal, copy or disclose documents that they deal or work with.

The media has engaged in self-serving justification for empowering allowing such shameful pursuits of illicit behavior, and they have permitted such self-righteous leakers to have their moments in the spotlight, even though their actions are shadowy.

Breaking the law in such a callous fashion should have consequences, and under no circumstances should the leakers be glorified or commended for their bravery. They aren't brave; rather, they are sad folks whose bios show a clear failing in their achieving their aspirations for success and notoriety.

Our society has fallen victim to its own thirst for “dirt" and it's time to evolve to a higher level of ethics and appreciation for what it takes to provide a safe and secure homeland.

[NOTE: As a journalist for more than 50 years, I never published anything obtained from an unnamed source.]
 
AlwaysWrite

AlwaysWrite

Addicted Member
On a number of occasions, I have known certain things that would make a good story, but I didn't even think of actually printing them because I had no documentation or nobody that I could claim as a source.

One example is when I sat in on a meeting of coaches and school administrators at a major university. Part of the discussion involved the "doctoring" of grades in order keep an All-American basketball player (who later had a fairly good NBA career) eligible to play.

I was aware of which professors were ordered to give the player a passing grade -- even though he was actually flunking -- and I was aware of which school officials were "giving the orders" to make sure that the player remained eligible.

I was at the meeting as a guest of another basketball coach (who wasn't coaching at the university in question), and everyone in the room knew that I was the sports editor of the largest newspaper in the state. But obviously, none of the "guilty parties" was willing to go on the record regarding their illegality, and because there was no tape recording of the meeting, there was no way for me to authenticate the proceedings. And I was told, in no uncertain terms, that if I attempted to print what I knew, everyone in the room would flatly deny it.

Therefore, I wasn't about to publish such information using anonymous and unnamed sources, and as I said in the previous post, never in my journalistic career did I print anything from unnamed sources.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top