Source Protection

NEW YORK Former Washington Post Ombudsman Geneva Overholser criticized her former newspaper, saying it should either sever its ties with Bob Woodward or require the legendary Watergate scribe to work solely for the paper, not pen his best-selling books on the side. "It isn't an arrangement that can really work at the Post," said Overholser, who served as ombudsman from 1995 to 1998 and later as a...

What did Len Downie know, and when did he know it? And more important, why didn't he do anything about it when he knew? On Oct. 24, if not earlier, the Washington Post editor learned that his star reporter Bob "Mr. Run Amok" Woodward had held back key information about the CIA leak scandal for two years. Yet Downie himself withheld that bombshell from his readers until Nov. 16 � a delay of more...

You make some important and often overlooked points in your column on confidential sources. I've been in an extended argument with FAIR -- whose work I generally applaud -- on similar issues. FAIR has issued a statement approving of confidentiality protection for whistleblower informants but not for informants spreading government propaganda. In reply, I've used arguments much like yours. We...

Joseph C. Wilson IV, husband of Valerie Plame Wilson, called on The Washington Post last night to investigate the conduct of Bob Woodward, the investigative reporter, in the leaking of Plame Wilson's name to the news media. Woodward admitted last week that a Bush administration official had disclosed Plame Wilson's identity to him more than two years ago. He did not alert his editors or officials...

Bob Woodward said yesterday that he notified his editor at The Washington Post of his involvement in the CIA leak case because he realized he "was going to be dragged into this." In an interview with CNN's Larry King, Woodward, a Post assistant managing editor and best-selling author, detailed the events that led him to apologize to Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. for not notifying him earlier...

Bob Woodward, in a phone conversation of nearly an hour and a half on Sunday, said: "People think I'm hiding something. But what am I hiding? . . . Anyone who looks through that book [his Plan of Attack, published in April 2004], it expands their knowledge. It's the best account of how we went to war with Iraq." He cited a number of examples of tensions and clashes over war policy that were first...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward said Monday he kept his conversation with a Bush administration official about the identity of a CIA operative secret for two years because "I was trying to avoid being subpoenaed." Woodward said on CNN's "Larry King Live" he also didn't tell his boss, executive editor Leonard Downie Jr., about the source, a decision he called a mistake....

WASHINGTON – Bob Woodward said Monday that he notified his editor at The Washington Post of his involvement in the CIA leak case because he realized he "was going to be dragged into this." In an interview with CNN's Larry King, Woodward, a Washington Post assistant managing editor and best-selling author, detailed the events that led him to apologize to Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. for not...

WASHINGTON -- Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward dismissed claims that he should have revealed his role in the CIA leak case when he discussed the investigation on news interview shows. Woodward said on CNN's "Larry King Live" Monday night: "Every time somebody appears on your show talking about the news or giving some sort of analysis, there are going to be things that they can't talk about."...

The leak of former CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity continues to spread through the Washington press corps like a toxic plume. As it does, it discredits individual reporters and damages both their news organizations and an entire style of reporting that has come to dominate the way Americans are informed - or misinformed - concerning their government's conduct. Last week's casualty was the...