Whistleblowers vs. Leakers

Jonah Goldberg:

Journalism, like politics, depends on a slew of useful fictions. They're too numerous to list here (besides, they make for so many useful column topics, I'd hate to pre-empt myself). But it is worth pausing to watch as a new myth is sculpted before our very eyes.

Over the last decade or so the media has carefully cultivated an ingenious distinction. Call it: whistleblowers versus leakers. You've surely seen both of these mesmerizing creatures on display in the carnival menagerie that is your nightly news. "Whistleblowers" reveal things "America needs to hear." "Leakers" have grubby agendas.

Interestingly, whistleblowers, despite the media's love for them, are rarely famous for long. The year 2002 was "The Year of the Whistleblower." Time magazine lamely named "whistleblowers" as their "Person of the Year," putting three female whistleblowers on the cover. I doubt one in a thousand readers remember who all three of those women were (answer: Colleen Rowley of the FBI, Sherron Watkins of Enron and Cynthia Cooper of Worldcom). This makes sense because most of these people are props, disposable icons used to make a desired point.

Now don't get me wrong: I have no problem with "whistleblowing" per se. Exposing wrongdoing at great personal risk can be a sign of great courage as well as a moral obligation. The problem is that "whistleblower," with its positive, even heroic connotations, is an honorific the press confers only on those whose whistleblowing is music to their ears. (Nothing but guffaws greeted Linda Tripp's supporters when they called her a whistleblower.) Everybody else is a mere "leaker" - or worse. And the truth of the matter is that the press is simply not a reliable arbiter of who is Thomas More and who is Ratso Rizzo.

...

So, if you want to decode what the press means when they salute a whistleblower for delivering news "America needs to hear," just remember that what they're really saying is, "This is news the press wants you to hear."

The disengeniousness continues with the media reaction to Scooter Libby's request for information from reporters so he can prepare his defense. In the media's mind the defense in the Libby case does not have the right to know what they knew and did not tell.