Telander's Note, a Column, and now SF Editor Bronstein Weighs In

Are you serious?

 

I'm just saying, everyone's hot and bothered. Chill out. Feel free to include yourself.

 

Wow. Seems the only people here who are hot and bothered are you and your friend DyePack.

Maybe Dave can get you both a tshirt.

 

Harp at someone else, 21. Not interested tonight. I'm done here.

 

To be honest, in this day and age in newspapers, where publishers are laying people off for shits and giggles, where people are getting downsized every day, where are news holes are being ripped into shreds, where we are losing our vacation days and where the jackasses who run newspapers are finding new ways to screw people every day -- why in the hell would anyone take a bullet like this and go to prison? Newspapers clearly aren't trying to protect their workers.

 

It's time for whomever leaked the grand jury transcripts to come clean and take these guys off the hook. Even Scooter Libby had the common decency to do that for Judith Miller. Cowards.

 

How can we get Telander's t-shirts? Perhaps they could be sold with some proceeds going to advocacy for a shield law.

 

As a friend of Mark, I am mad, upset and yet very proud of the stance he has taken.

Where can we buy one of the T-shirts?

 

I would like to think that, despite the accurate quandary you described, there are still a few people who have the passion to reveal the truth to the public.

Maybe I'm being a bit naive for a cynical guy, but I have to believe this: No one is so vainglorious enough to risk 18 months in a federal prison just for the attention.

 

Or for the 'glory' that may be waiting at the end of a prison term.

As a literary agent for sportswriters for many years, I've heard repeatedly over the last month from writers and book editors who wonder if prison is a career path leading to a guaranteed pot of gold. Book deals, movie deals, etc. It's possible, of course, that any of those opportunities may be there, but it's incredibly cynical (and somewhat offensive) to believe they're the motivation for choosing an 18-month prison term.

For all the lousy things going on in the newspaper business these days, at least be grateful you rarely if ever have this conversation: Any of you who have authored books (especially controversial books) know the frustration of being told by your publisher, "That has to come out, our legal department isn't comfortable." You tell them, "But here's the proof!" And they respond, "Oh, we know you can prove it, we just don't want to deal with the legal hassles down the road."

Let's hope this case doesn't ever lead newspapers down that same road.

 

Considering an appeal could take a year and the the grand jury's term would likely expire during that time period, is it a possibility the jail time would become a moot point, altogether?

I suppose the prosecutors could convene another grand jury (which is why Greg Anderson is back in jail) and go back to square one, but I wonder how likely that is in a case like this.

But really, as I mentioned before, it's time for whomever leaked the grand jury transcripts to come forward and take these guys off the hook. Even Scooter Libby had the common decency to do that for Judith Miller.

 

Cran --
The fact that nobody has come forward leads me to believe that it's the government -- either the proscutors or their law-enforcement witnesses -- who did the leaking.
And dyepack, just shut the fuck up, please, until you learn how to address your betters. Dave Kindred's forgotten more about this business than you'll ever know. I am anxiously awaiting your book or, if possible, anything on your website that doesn;t look like it was written with a paint roller.