Rosen: Press should boycott Novak until he talks

[quaoar]

http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/

I, for one, have had it with Robert Novak. And if all the journalists who are talking today about "chilling effects" and individual conscience mean what they say, they will, as a matter of conscience and pride, start giving Novak himself the big chill.

That means if you're a Washington columnist maybe you don't go on CNN with him-- until he explains. If you're a newspaper editor you consider suspending his column until he explains. If you're Jonathan Klein, president of CNN/US, you take him off the air until he decides to go on the air and explain. If you're John Barron, editor of the Chicago Sun-Times, you suspend your columnist (with pay, I should think); and if Barron won't do it then publisher John Cruickshank should.

If Novak says he can't talk until the case is over, then he shouldn't be allowed to publish or opine on the air until the case is over. He should know the rage some of his colleagues feel. Claiming to be "baffled" by Novak's behavior may have been plausible for a while. With Miller now sitting in jail, and possibly facing criminal charges later, "baffled" is sounding lame.

< snip >

As the judge said Judy Miller can escape her jail cell by finally choosing to talk, so could Novak restore his column and TV appearances by finally talking about his part in the story. Novak is said to have lots of friends in the press. Friends would let him know the time is here.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I've never understood

why Novak has been allowed to go free when he was the one who outed Plame. It is unknown if he's even been summoned before the Grand Jury, isn't it? If he has, why hasn't that fact been made known?

[tsuki]

2. And tell what? Novak has already changed his story three times.

[Totally Committed]

3. I think we should also take it a step further...

and boycott the venues that continue to use him. He is still employed at CNN and the Chicago Sun Times (I think...). And, if he is used as a talking head on any other program, we should boycott that, as well... write the people who employ him AND the sponsors that advertize in those venues, and let them know that until Novak goes, you do, and (for the advertizers) you will not buy their products or use their services until they stop advertizing on these venues -- until and unless Novak is gone.

That's what I've done as a matter of course about this man. He is a cancer on humanity. He needs to go NOW.

TC