Should the Los Angeles Times Reveal the Khalidi Videotape?
Fox News thinks it has discovered — or invented — the October surprise that will change the outcome of the election in John McCain’s favor. It is a dud! They have been devoting hours of television time to publicizing John McCain’s demand that the Los Angeles Times release a video purporting to show Barack Obama at an event with a rabidly anti-Israel Palestinian academic named Rashid Khalidi. I admit that I would myself like to see the video. But the LA Times obtained it from a source on the express condition that the video itself not be released. The LA Times did run a story disclosing the contents of the video, presumably with the permission of the source, but they have stated that “the Times keeps its promises to sources.” It is important to remember that without this promise of confidentiality stories like this one might not find their way into the public dialogue. This point illustrates the complexity of the relationship between a newspaper and its sources. A simplistic view of f
