Media Responsibility?

[Dan Billings <billingsdan@yahoo.com>]

Did any of you see Dr. Steven Hatfill's statement
concerning the investigation of his involvement in the
mailing of Anthrax last year?

He raised a number of allegations that could involve
the media in criminal activity, including ABC News
recieveing a copy of a manuscript taken from his
computer and the media being tipped off about searches
of his apartment.  The whole story is reminiscent of
the Richard Jewell and Win Ho Lee stories.

My question is this: Doesn't the media now have a
responsibility to their viewers/readers to say where
they got the information?  The media has key
information about the story that they are keeping from
the public.  I know all the arguments about protecting
sources, but in this case, the media may have been
used by their sources to break the law.  Doesn't
righting wrongs and giving the whole story outweigh
protecting criminal sources?

Quite predictably, MSNBC and CNN spent the time
immediately after Hatfill's announcement interviewing
former government officials who defended the FBI and
attacked Hatfill.  They also avoided the tough issues
about the media's involvement in this matter.  Only
Fox News talked about the media's role and mentioned
the similarities to the Jewell case.

-- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine

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