On Saturday’s Fox News Watch, during a discussion of whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be prosecuted under the Espionage Act, panel member and conservative columnist Andrea Tantaros cited the Media Research Center - parent organization to NewsBusters - as she paraphrased the most recent Bozell Column and its reaction to Time magazine editor Richard Stengel’s defense of Assange. Tantaros:
The editor of Time magazine told Charlie Rose on PBS that he thought that Assange was an idealist, and he went on in this letter in Time magazine to say that it's not our job - the media's - to protect the interests in that way, meaning national security. And Brent Bozell, the Media Research Center wisely pointed out, it's very different, though, when journalists are captured. The government doesn't take that stance.
Moments later, Tantaros noted the double standard in the left’s treatment of the Valerie Plame CIA leak, and Jim Pinkerton of the New America Foundation brought up the Climategate leak of documents from East Anglia University:
ANDREA TANTAROS: Where is the real - I have yet to hear on the left the real crazy outcry we heard about the Valerie Plame case. I mean, they acted like this was the biggest breach in security history. Now there's hundreds and hundreds of names of real, real CIA-
ALAN COLMES: Tell me who (INAUDIBLE) Valerie Plame who was breached here.
JIM PINKERTON: (INAUDIBLE) -East Anglia University climate change memos.
TANTAROS: Yes.
PINKERTON: Those had no right to get out.
TANTAROS: No.
PINKERTON: That was a complete atrocity. That was the left there.
JUDY MILLER: I mean, in that instance, the New York Times had a kind of double standard, yes.
Below is a complete transcript of the relevant segment from the Saturday, December 11, Fox News Watch on FNC:
JON SCOTT: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrested in London for sex crimes committed in Sweden. The man behind the release of more than 250,000 classified U.S. diplomatic cables could now face charges of spying here in the U.S., crimes tied to the Espionage Act. His attorney reacted on Friday, telling ABC News, quote, "Our position, of course, is that we don't believe it applies to Mr. Assange, and that in any event he's entitled to First Amendment protection as publisher of WikiLeaks. And any prosecution under the Espionage Act, in my view, would be unconstitutional and puts at risk all media organizations in the United States."
Earlier this week, Mr. Assange had an op-ed published in the Australian defending the publication of the sensitive documents on WikiLeaks, writing, "Democratic societies need a strong media, and WikiLeaks is part of that media. Media helps keep government honest. WikiLeaks has revealed some hard truths about the Iraq and Afghan wars and broken stories about corporate corruption." Judy Miller, you have gone to jail over, you know, protecting what you see as First Amendment rights. Does he have a point?
JUDY MILLER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: He has a point. He has a definite point, and even though our profession seems to be deeply divided about whether or not Julian Assange is a journalist, and if he is a journalist, what kind of journalist he is, he is a disseminator information that other news organizations have vetted. He is right about the inconvenience of some of these disclosures and even the fact that some of them may endanger some American interests, but he has a right to do that unless you want the government to decide what we see and what we read.
SCOTT: Even if people, I mean, the suggestion is that people are going to lose their lives because of what he has done.
ALAN COLMES, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: There’s not evidence of that happening. I have consulted with Fox’s senior judicial analyst, Andrew Napolitano, he says, under the Espionage Act, the disseminator of information - Judy is exactly right - is not culpable here. What’s really outrageous is that Joe Lieberman said this past week - and I think he said it on Fox News - that we ought to investigate the New York Times. Has he forgotten the Pentagon Papers? Has he forgotten what happened to Judy Miller? Has he forgotten that we have a First Amendment that heralds a free press? What is he talking about?
SCOTT: Well, what about that? Is it a bad idea if the New York Times is in kahoots, at least, with Assange on publishing some of this sensitive-
ANDREA TANTAROS, COLUMNIST: You even heard Eric Holder say, in his press conference, the members of the media who have acted irresponsibly will face real consequences.
MILLER: Define "irresponsibly."
TANTAROS: Well, a very interesting point. The editor of Time magazine told Charlie Rose on PBS that he thought that Assange was an idealist, and he went on in this letter in Time magazine to say that it's not our job - the media’s - to protect the interests in that way, meaning national security. And Brent Bozell, the Media Research Center wisely pointed out, it's very different, though, when journalists are captured. The government doesn't take that stance. I think there needs to be responsibility on both the media and the government.
JIM PINKERTON, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: The reality is that, in the Internet age, everybody is potentially a journalist. All six billion people on this Earth have as much access to the Internet almost as Julian Assange does, and so we don't know what to do and how to categorize Judy Miller - distinguished Pulitzer prize-winning journalist - versus, you know, Jim Pinkerton, whoever it might be out there. I want to add one point if I could, John. Last week on the show I made a mistake. I said that the Knight Foundation had given money to WikiLeaks. I was wrong, and I apologize to the Knight Foundation.
SCOTT: Real quickly, Judy, he is, Julian Assange, the leading man for Time’s "Person of the Year." I mean, they just had him on their cover, as we saw. Should he get it?
MILLER: Look, I don’t like that. I don't like a lot of what he publishes, but it doesn't matter what I like or you like or any of us like, the issue is the right to publish.
COLMES: By the way, "Person of the Year" isn't the rotary club man of the year. It's not, you know, who do we give all these awards to, because we love the person. It's who made the most impact. People never understand that about Time magazine.
TANTAROS: Where is the real - I have yet to hear on the left the real crazy outcry we heard about the Valerie Plame case. I mean, they acted like this was the biggest breach in security history. Now there's hundreds and hundreds of names of real, real CIA-
COLMES: Tell me who (INAUDIBLE) Valerie Plame who was breached here.
PINKERTON: (INAUDIBLE) -East Anglia University climate change memos.
TANTAROS: Yes.
PINKERTON: Those had no right to get out.
TANTAROS: No.
PINKERTON: That was a complete atrocity. That was the left there.
MILLER: I mean, in that instance, the New York Times had a kind of double standard, yes.
