What Kobe said

[Margalis]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/magazine/09/14/kobe0920/index.html?cnn=yes

OK, I don't care so much about what he said but...man, WTF is up with leaks. Seriously, it seems that any information on any subject is just "leaked" all the time now, without consequence. Oops, Kobe said this, oops, Kobe's accuser looks like this and lives here, oops, Valerie Plame works for the CIA...

It seems like we've gotten to the point where the press will print anything from any anonymous source, and that source is always protected, even if what they are leaking is national security information.

It's almost comical. I'm all for freedom of the press, but some things are supposed to be kept private for a reason. I don't see how releasing this info is a service to the public, which freedom of the press is supposed to be about.
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These leaks almost always come from people with agendas. They are mostly passive-aggressive smears, intimidation, etc. It's sad that the press rewards that. Hey, want to get back at someone? Out their wife as a CIA agent, no strings attached! It rewards people for breaking the law.

[Sky]

People still listen to mass media?

[HaemishM]

See, here's my problem.

SI has obtained the sealed statement made by Bryant and recorded by police before he was arrested.

That right there. A judge has, at least temporarily, ordered this shit sealed. Thus, by printing it, SI has, IMO, violated a court order and should therefore be liable for contempt of court charges. This whole "sources should be protected" shield by the media in this country has gotten too fucking easy to use. I'm all for freedom of the press; I'm not for allowing the press to trample over court orders, privacy and other shit just because they want to scoop someone else.

I blame it on Matt Fucking Drudge, with the Lewinsky thing, as well as Kenneth Starr's turn as special prosecutor during that whole case. If Ken Starr's office was a damn, Washington would have been flooded with all the leaks his office had.

[WayAbvPar]

The biggest crime in the whole Starr investigation was making Linda Tripp a big enough celebrity that I had to see a picture of her. Jeebus.

[Shockeye]

Thus, by printing it, SI has, IMO, violated a court order and should therefore be liable for contempt of court charges.

Who gave it to SI? Seems to me that person should go to jail.

[HaemishM]

Yes, they should, but SI, knowing the information was sealed, printed it anyway, which says they should be serving some salad-tossing time as well.

[Margalis]

The problem is, how do you find out who gave it to SI?

Ther is no accountability at any level. You can't find out who gave it to SI, and you can't punish SI for printing it for some reason.

The first paper that printed the Valerie Plame story was comitting treason. But nothing happened. The Ken Starr stuff is a good one, they leaked fucking everything. This has just gotten ridiculous. "The docs were ordered sealed to protect privacy and the legal process - and here are the docs!"

IMO, the write of the story, and the editor that approved it should bethrown in jail in cases like these. The media is supposed to protect and inform the public, not screw people illegally.

[toma levine]

Hasn't the identity of Kobe's accuser been the worst kept secret in America since, oh, a week after the DA announced the charges?

Nothing new here, apparently.