No journalist left behind

Oh, Woodward! Say it isn't so. Not you too!

Woodward Apologizes to Post For Silence on Role in Leak Case
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer

Bob Woodward apologized to The Washington Post yesterday for failing to reveal for more than two years that a senior Bush administration official had told him about CIA operative Valerie Plame, even as an investigation of who disclosed her identity mushroomed into a national scandal.

Woodward, an assistant managing editor and best-selling author, said he told Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. that he held back the information because he was worried about being subpoenaed by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special counsel leading the investigation.

"I apologized because I should have told him about this much sooner," Woodward, who testified in the CIA leak investigation Monday, said in an interview. "I explained in detail that I was trying to protect my sources. That's job number one in a case like this. . . .

"I hunkered down. I'm in the habit of keeping secrets. I didn't want anything out there that was going to get me subpoenaed."

-What is sad about this whole ordeal is that this administration managed to trick every single Washington reporter. There are rules about anonymous sources for a reason. One is to help protect your source of any possible retaliation to be able to warn the public. But these rules are also to protect yourself as a journalist from being played. And, unfortunately, I think even the good ones were played.

It is a sad day for journalism, let me tell you. Don't think I'm overreacting. Even his famous partner is trying to justify his actions. And If you want to get even more depressed, go to the Huffington Post.

Sorry, Bob, this hurts me more than it hurts you.