Press Liberties: Valerie Plame

At a family get-together in Flint this weekend, talk turned political, as it's inclined to do among the offspring of sit-down strikers (don't even get us started on NAFTA). My mother expressed dismay at the lack of a riot -- by the press and public -- over the president's commutation of "Scooter" Libby's sentencing for obstruction of justice, etc. "It's treason," she said. "Why would Martha Stewart have to serve time, but not someone who commits treason? Why isn't the press up in arms about this?"

It's simple. The press isn't reacting much because they'd be implicating themselves. Scooter Libby, Karl Rove and whoever else is involved on the executive-branch level didn't buy themselves some airtime on CNN or ad space in Time magazine to reveal CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to the world. Columnist Robert Novak wrote about it, and the press published this information. Valerie Plame was outed by national media, not just the president's operatives. When this first happened in 2003, I fully expected Novak to face charges, along with a slew of publishers.

And why didn't that happen?

JRN 101: The Secret Language of Newsrooms

Recently, someone asked what op-ed meant -- was the "op" for "opinion"? Well, it could be. Most newspapers, magazines and etc. have their own in-house style. In my experience, however, op means "opposite." This is just the beginning of a joy ride with language and meaning. To wit:

op-ed is "opposite editorial" — a physical location, usually directly opposite of ...

editorials, which are unsigned opinions, usually based on an editorial board's consensus, and part of...

The editorial pages, which are written by...

The opinion department, which is not to be confused with ...

The editorial department, which has its own zip code in a typical newsroom. Opinion vs. editorial is an important distinction, on the order of church vs. state, because opinion writes opinionated editorials; editorial writes objective news and features, and writers in editorial would get shot if they wrote an editorial (for the opinion department, that is) in most places.

Communication, baby. It's a fabulous business.

And remember: Magazines are books.