Leaking is good (for us reporters)

LONDON — A Scotland Yard detective has been arrested on suspicion of leaking details about the phone hacking case to the news media, the police said on Friday.

— The New York Times, August 20, 2011

By Agnes Bullster

JOTR Media Specialist

Absolutely unbelievable!

A cop pinched for leaking to the press?

Since when is that illegal?

Well, even if it is technically illegal, so what?

Where will this end?

I mean, cops leaking purloined stuff to reporters is an age-old tradition, whether it is legal or not!

I mean, what the ding-dong are reporters to do for stories if their sources are going to be arrested for spoon-feeding us our news?

Come on!

Life as we journalists know it will end abruptly if our sources get burned in this highly public and terribly punitive manner!

I for one am totally appalled.

So what if it is illegal for cops, prosecutors, judges, and other members of the law enforcement community to divulge information about ongoing cases to the public?

Giving secret information away to the public would be wrong, highly unethical.

But giving the same information to the press, now that is AOK by me.

You see, the public is a raw creature, untrained and insensitive about police matters.

The PUBLIC should not be trusted with secret police information.

But the PRESS, what we generally refer to as the MEDIA — that is a different matter.

We are supremely qualified to act as filters between the cops and the public, making sure that our press accounts of sensitive police matters are properly timed for maximum effect, normally to the benefit of cops and prosecutors.

So what if these leaks always work to help the cops and screw suspects and defendants to the wall?

Screw them, I say.

Anyone who is a suspect or a criminal defendant must be a pretty shady person to begin with, and anyway they are wonderful targets for us reporters.

Bottom line, news about suspects and defendants sells papers!

That is what we are all about!

Ethics-schmethics!

How could the police, who normally give reporters purloined information, actually arrest one of their own for doing what they all do to promote their cases and railroad criminal suspects and defendants?

What cop out there is innocent of leaking?

Hell, if they  arrest one cop for leaking, they’d better toss them all in the slammer.

I mean, who or whom are we kidding here?

They’ve all leaked to us, and we reporters know who they are!

Keep it up, and we’ll leak on you!

Extortion?

You betcha!

Leaks are what keep the system rolling.

Arrest a cop for leaking to reporters?

You might as well arrest the sun for rising in the morning!