1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Fox News outs Bin Laden raid author

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Dick Whitman, Aug 23, 2012.

  1. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    The author may have broken the law and revealed classified information related to national security.

    Does that change anything?
     
  2. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member


    Or he may not have. Sort of the point of the anonymity, I guess, and more a question for the military intelligence community and justice apparatus than the media to answer thereafter.

    Penguin was satisfied with him and his anonymity.

    Weirdly unpatriotic of Fox to out him publicly and put him at such high risk of jihadi payback.
     
  3. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    I am thinking that Fox outlet was an unwitting accomplice and the perfect messenger for those that wanted to out the guy.
     
  4. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    You don't think this is newsworthy? Really?
     
  5. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    Was he hiding from al-Qaeda or the military?

    Would it have been acceptable for a competing reporter to out Mark Felt as Deep Throat in, say, 1974?

    I'm torn on this one.
     
  6. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member


    Not at all, and haven't argued such.

    I just think the integrity of anonymity is an interesting argument in cases like this.
     
  7. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    Here's a hypothetical:

    Would anyone's thinking on outing this guy change if he was just a source, rather than a co-author?
     
  8. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    Hey, I already proposed that two posts before yours!

    Either way, my answer is that he's profiting financially off the book while a source is not, so I am more OK with outing the co-author than the source. I'm torn as to whether I'm OK with either, though.
     
  9. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    Maybe not so unwitting. Maybe NewsCorp has their own SEAL Team 6 book set to go to press at HarperCollins and needs to discredit this effort from Penguin.
     
  10. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    Sorry, my friend. Been bouncing back and forth here. All credit to you for the thought.
     
  11. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Possibly but my theory is more nefarious.
     
  12. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    Doesn't the outing substantiate the book, not discredit it?
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page