Off the Record

Pearlstine: Rove Never 'Merited' Confidential Source Status In Plame Case By Mark Fitzgerald

EVANSTON, ILL. Norman Pearlstine, who was editor in chief of Time Inc. when Time magazine writer Matt Cooper faced jail time in the Valerie Plame case, told a Medill School of Journalism audience Tuesday evening that he doesn't think White House advisor Karl Rove really deserved his status as a "confidential source" of Cooper's.

"Outing Valerie Plame, exposing a valuable (CIA) agent for no particular reason, didn't, in my mind, merit protecting confidentiality," Pearlstine said.

Pearlstine revisited the tangled case of Plame's outing -- and its repercussions for journalists -- in an hour-long lecture at Northwestern University. His book on the subject, "Off The Record: The Press, The Government, And The War Over Anonymous Sources," was recently published by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. READ MORE...

A Test for Mr. Mukasey By NORMAN PEARLSTINE

The Senate hearings that led to the confirmation of Michael Mukasey as the next attorney general suggest he will be tough on crime but careful about the law. He declared torture unconstitutional and warned President Bush that the Constitution applies to him as well as all other government officials. Although he didn't endorse "waterboarding" -- simulated drowning -- he was right to withhold his opinion on the legality of its use on suspected terrorists before being fully briefed on the facts and circumstances surrounding the practice.

Many of us who knew Mr. Mukasey as a young assistant attorney general, in private practice (including the years he represented this newspaper in First Amendment cases), and as a distinguished federal judge in New York, believe he will be his own man, capable of restoring faith in government and the rule of law. Throughout his career, he has also demonstrated innate decency, uncommon good sense and great courage. The latter was especially evident in 1996 when he was accompanied by armed guards during the World Trade Center bombing case after he had received death threats during the trial of two terrorists. READ MORE...

Is It Just Business-as-Usual in D.C. When a Lobbyist Brings Classified Info to a Foreign Embassy? by Philip Weiss

A friend has passed along Norman Pearlstine's piece in WSJ urging Michael Mukasey to drop the AIPAC case. Pearlstine argues that the lobbyists were performing routine business: READ MORE...

Media & Money: Keynote: Norm Pearlstine, The Carlyle Group; No Reason To Sell Time Inc. By Joseph Weisenthal

During the first private equity discussion of the day, panelists were patting themselves on the back, talking up the transformative powers of PE firms, while predicting a quick turnaround in credit conditions. By contrast, during his keynote interview at the Media and Money Conference, media industry veteran turned private equity player Norman Pearlstine expressed far more concern about the industry and the overall economy. Perhaps reflecting the skepticism of a longtime journalist, The Carlyle Group senior advisor zeroed in on the real challenges facing traditional media and those investing in it: READ MORE...

Familiarity breeds content by Eric Pfanner

John Gapper, a business commentator at the Financial Times, has posted an interesting blog item about the proliferation of anonymous sourcing in the world’s financial media, prompting other commentators to weigh in on the issue. He laments the increased use of hackneyed formulations used to describe these sources — “people familiar with the firm,” people “close to the situation” and the like – seeing them as unwelcome American journalistic exports. READ MORE...