SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2010
KLMNO
EZ RE Sunday OPINION TOPICA| Who is Washington’s person of the year? DANAMILBANK
Assange’s enablers
J
ulianAssangewasinsufferableasheleft aLondoncourthouseThursday. “During my time in solitary confine- ment inthebottomofaVictorianprison,
Ihadtimetoreflectontheconditionsof those people around the world also in solitary confinement,” he said after posting bail—as ifninedays inanEnglishjail fightingextradi- tion to Sweden on sex charges made him a regularNelsonMandela. Before Assange motored off to his house
arrest at a friend’s mansion, one of his lawyers expressed his determination that Assange “will not be going back to that cell once occupiedbyOscarWilde.” Oscar Wilde? Those cheeky Brits. As-
sange’s indiscriminate dump of American government secrets over the last several months—with hardly a care forwhomight be hurt or what public good was served — can be summarized nicely by a line from Wilde’s play “AWoman of No Importance”: Nothing succeeds like excess. IcanunderstandwhyObamaadministra-
tion figures want to prosecute Assange for espionage or other crimes. I confess I’d like to throwa creampie inhis facemyself. But prosecuting Assange would give him
exactlywhat hewants: proof thatAmerica is hypocritical, that we don’t live by the free-
domswepreach.Assangewouldlikenothing more than to be a martyr — and President Obamashouldn’tgive that tohim. The better way to deal with Assange is to
make him irrelevant. The only reason WikiLeaks has been a sensation is the absurd secrecyof theObamaadministration, insome waysworse than that ofGeorgeW. Bush. The reflexive classifying has, by creating the per- ception that the government has much to hide,createdamarket forWikiLeaks. In fact, the WikiLeaks disclosures have
been generally benign. Vice President Biden said Thursday that he didn’t see “any sub- stantive damage” from them. The biggest revelation was that so many supposed gov- ernment secrets really aren’t secrets. (Silvio Berlusconi loves toparty—whoknew?) The episode spotlighted Obama’s surpris-
ingly poor record on government openness. The administration has already undertaken fourprosecutionsofgovernmentleakers,more than any predecessor, in some cases using the arcane,WorldWar
I-eraEspionageAct.At the same time, the administrationstymiedefforts in Congress to pass a “shield law” to protect journalists’confidentialsources. Government-secrecywatchdog Steven Af-
tergoodat theFederationofAmericanScien- tists reports that the administration has yet toproduce recommendations for the “funda- mental transformation”of thesecurityclassi- fication system that Obama ordered a year ago. Over-classification is so prevalent that eventhePentagonPapers—leakedbyDaniel Ellsberg nearly four decades ago — are still classifiedasTopSecret. It’s little wonder that Ellsberg himself
empathizeswithWikiLeaks. At a news con- ference at theNationalPressClubonThurs- day—shortly before going to chain himself to theWhiteHouse fence in a protest—the 79-year-old Ellsberg said Assange is a hero. Convicting Assange, he said, “would mean that the crown had returned to America . . . and that we’re really under a monarchical systemof total control of information.” Ellsberg was accompanied by an activist
from Assange’s Australia, who lectured Americans onfree speech. “We thought that America stood firmfor theConstitution, for its First Amendment rights,” said the activ- ist, Brett Solomon. “If something has changed, thenletus know.” That blokewas as insufferable asAssange.
But the administration is playing into their hands by trying to keep harmless informa- tion secret. On this point, there was biparti- sanagreementataHouse JudiciaryCommit- tee hearing Thursday after Ellsberg’s news conference. Chairman John Conyers com- plainedof“rampantover-classification.”Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tex.) said hewas “very concerned about our own over-classification.” Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.)detected“the trademark of totalitarianism.” Thomas Blanton of theNational Security
Archive at George Washington University saidthatbetween50percentand90percent ofclassifiedmaterial shouldn’tbe; theresult is “vast prairies” of phony government se- crets that are impossible toprotect. It achieves little to punish Assange for
trespassing on the prairie, either by prose- cuting him (as Sen. Dianne Feinstein and other Democrats suggest) or hunting him likeaterrorist (asSarahPalinwouldhaveit). Instead, end the obsessive classification
thatmadeAssangepossible—anddenyhim the martyrdom he desires. President Obama: Forgive your enemies; nothing an- noys themsomuch. Didn’tOscarWilde say that?
danamilbank@washpost.com
MICHAEL O’HANLON Senior fellow and director of research in the Brookings Institution’s foreign policy program
Gen. Stanley McChrystal ismyWashington
(andU.S.) person of the year. This is a counterintuitive choice, since he was essentially fired from his job as commander in Afghanistan in June after indiscretions by his staff surfaced in Rolling Stone magazine. It is primarilyMcChrystal’s strategy that
President Obama has just reaffirmed and that Defense Secretary Robert Gates says is showing greater than expected progress. Despite his special operations background, he emphasized population protection (even while he ramped up offensive capabilities, too). Despite being a military leader, he probably had the most productive relationship with PresidentHamid Karzai of any American. AndMcChrystal had every right to complain
about his ouster, which was based on a journalist violating ground rules and on statements by McChrystal’s staff far more than by the general himself. But rather than complain, he recognized his own mistake in the process and stoically moved on, for the good of the mission and the country.
THOMAS M. DAVIS III Former U.S. representative from Virginia; president of the Republican Main Street Partnership
John Boehner. Almost no man’s political
fortunes improved more this year than his. At the start of 2010, he was the leader of a party facing an almost 80-seat Democratic majority.He ends 2010 preparing to be speaker of theHouse and will enjoy an almost 50-seat majority. Quite an impressive change of fortunes, and Boehner can take a significant amount of credit. He kept a diverse caucus united—in opposition
to President Obama’s agenda and against efforts of the Democratic majority to move the country dramatically to the left. Boehner also kept the party on message. This provided a stark and politically powerful contrast to the Democrats, who seemed to push every issue but jobs and the economy.
DAVID BONIOR Chair of American Rights atWork; former House Democratic whip
Nancy Pelosi.However controversial, Speaker
Nancy Pelosi’s record will go down as one of the truly great leadership feats in the history of theU.S. Congress. Pelosi’s tireless efforts were key in countless
legislative victories, including—just this year—tax breaks for working and middle-class families, food safety, and financial reform. And in a success that eluded so many before her, Pelosi paved the way for passage of health-insurance reform to lower costs and ensure access to quality, affordable care for 32 million more Americans.
MICHELLE RHEE Founder and CEO of StudentsFirst; chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools from 2007 t o 2010
I vote for Adrian Fenty. Regardless of your
politics, this is a man who put everything on the line for kids, and he paid the price politically. When I met him, I assumed that, as a politician,
he’d be mostly concerned with maintaining harmony to ensure a long career in
office.My assumption was strong enough that I first declined his offer to lead the school system. Fenty proved me wrong. From closing schools to
firing underperformers, his popularity was not his concern. Kids were. He was willing to make tough calls that most politicians would never consider.
DAVID FRUM Editor of FrumForum; speechwriter and special assistant to President GeorgeW. Bush from 2001 to 2002
“Washington” is not just a metaphor for the vast
national government.Washington is also a city, home to some of the nation’s powerful but also many of its poorest and most vulnerable citizens. As a resident of that secondWashington, I nominate formerD.C. Schools chancellor Michelle Rhee as Washington’s person of the year. Rhee worked tirelessly to improve the city’s famously troubled
TED LEONSIS Founder, chairman and chief executive of Monumental Sports & Entertainment
D.C. high school graduation rates are
staggeringly low. For every success story in The Post, there are many others regarding failure and
TOPICAONLINE: Dan Glickman and Karen Finney OMBUDSMAN ANDREWALEXANDER Online, laxity on anonymous sources gets worse P
ost readers constantly complain about the ex- cessive use of anonymous sources in the news- paper.But theproblemis evenworse online. Staff-writtennewsblogsarerepletewithviolations
ofThePost’s long-establishedandlaudablestandards governing confidential sources. These unnamed sources often are cited without providing readers with even a hint of their reliability or why they were grantedanonymity. Inthefirst twoweeksofDecemberalone,Postnews
blogs includedmore than 20 unnamed sourceswith- out any explanation of their quality or why they warranted
confidentiality.Many blogs referred only to “sources” or “those close to” a subject or situation. That’s at odds with The Post’s “Standards and
Ethics” policies,which instruct reporters to tell read- ers “as much as we can about why our unnamed sources deserve our confidence.”They forbid attribu- tionsolelyto“sources.”Andtheynotethat it “isnearly always possible to provide some useful information about a confidential source,” such as whether the source has firsthand knowledge of the topic being writtenabout. News blogs often are more conversational than
news stories. Some serve select audiences, such as Washington Redskins fans or political junkies, and includeinformationtoogranular forabroadnewspa- per audience. Should sourcing policies be the same forprint andonline? “Good journalism outlets should apply the same
[sourcing] standards . . . regardless of media plat- form,” said Stephen J.A.Ward, director of the Center for JournalismEthics at the University ofWisconsin in Madison, in an e-mail. “To do otherwise is to not
only violate central principles of responsible journal- ismbut to further blur the already blurry distinction, inthepublic’smind, betweenrumor-mongeringWeb sites andcredible journalism.” The complaints I receive about anonymous sourc-
es tend to focus on stories in the newspaper. That raises thequestionofwhether readersofblogsmaybe more tolerant of theuse ofunnamedsources. Kelly McBride, an ethics expert at the Poynter
Institute formedia studies, said via e-mail that read- ers “tend to trust information when they have a relationshipwith the provider,”whether it’s The Post or its bloggers. “To the extent that blogs, when well done, build relationships between thewriter and the audience, there is probably greater trust andmore of awillingness to say, ‘Okay, I believe that.’ ” But, she noted, that’s not necessarily true of the
“doubters,”thelargenumberofreaderswhoarepersis- tently skeptical of informationprovidedby themedia. “The reason we source information is not for the
people who are likely to already believe it,” she said. “It’s for the peoplewho are going to say, ‘Noway, that can’t be true.’” The Post has dozens of news blogs. Laxity on
sourcing rules seems to occur most frequently in those covering sports andpolitics. Sports Editor Matthew Vita noted that rules on
anonymous sourcinghave sometimesbeenneglected as sports bloggers post updates eight ormore times a day, occasionally evenwhile news conferences are in progress. Regardless, he said, “we need to apply the same rules and standards for our blogs as we do for ourprintedcopy.” Thequestionofwhether thereisadoublestandard
is broader than the issue of sourcing. McBride said she is convinced that “among professional news- rooms, the general standards for editing, verification andotherquality controlmeasurers are looseronline thaninthe legacyplatform,” suchas thenewspaper. As an example, Post bloggers also have neglected
rules onreporting aboutpolls. ThePost’sinternalstandardsurgecautioninreport-
ing ontelephone “robopolls,”whichcanbe unreliable. Arecordedvoicepromptspeopletorespondbypunch- ing buttons on their phones. But without a human to verifywho is answering, there’snoway to tellwhether it’s an adult or a child, for instance. Regardless, these pollshaveoftenbeencitedinPostblogs. “Technically, the same [polling] standards apply in
print and online,” said JonCohen, The Post’s director ofpolling. ”But thathasnotbeenthe case inpractice” because bloggershavenot always followedthem. Cohen noted that politics blogs cater to a special-
ized audience that may want to know about polls regardless of their reliability. “It seems to be a rather uncomfortable position for a news organization to denypeople things theywant,”he said. Cohen urged a broader newsroom discussion
about “what Washington Post journalism means” online and whether time-honored print standards shouldbe alteredfor somenewsdelivereddigitally. I’d second that. But not for anonymous sources,
whichalreadyareoutofcontrol.Onestandardshould apply.Enforcement, sorely lacking, shouldbe strict.
AndrewAlexander can be reached at202-334-7582or at
ombudsman@washpost.com. For daily updates, read the omblog at voices.washingtonpost. com/ombudsman-blog/.
KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL Editor and publisher of The Nation; Post online columnist
the independent senator from Vermont, on Dec. 10, when he waged an electrifying 81/2
against legislation extending tax breaks for millionaires. For Sanders, it was just another workday fighting to improve the lives of struggling working- and middle-class people—and ensuring that their voices are heard inside the Beltway. Fiercely principled, yet shrewd at picking his fights and practical enough to get things done, it was Sanders who fought and passed important legislation auditing the Federal Reserve—thereby disclosing that trillions had been doled out to big banks during the financial meltdown.
MIKEMCCURRY Partner at Public StrategiesWashington Inc.; press secretary to President Bill Clinton, 1995-98
Thereweren’tmanypoliticalheroes inWashington
thismidtermelectionyear,but some extraordinary people are onthe verge ofdoing something our politicians shouldcelebrate: ending childhoodhunger
intheDistrict.There are about 35,000kids inthe Districtwho live
inpoverty.Nowapartnershipof activists (bothfaith-basedandsecular) andconcerned public officialshas come forwardwitha realplanto make sure thatby 2016,no childgoeshungry. Many deserve recognition, but most would agree
that the greatest champion of hungry kids is George Jones of Bread for the City.
Sen. Jim DeMint warrants recognition as the emerging political power of the year here. By leveraging the Tea Party movement, he has in many ways dominated the Senate. Placing party purity above pragmatism and even electoral success, he has made some Republican senators worry that a single vote will end their careers, as evidenced by the experience ofUtah Republican Sen. Robert Bennett. Fear of being targeted in their next primary has caused some to change positions and refuse to provide the 60th vote for cloture to move legislation forward and avoid gridlock on many important bills. The Tea Party left three Senate seats—Delaware,Nevada and arguably Colorado— on the table by endorsing unacceptable candidates. Hopefully,DeMint’s power will be undercut. But, unless centrists such as Sen. LisaMurkowski (R- Alaska) can rouse voters to defeat Tea Party candidates,DeMint’s power will only grow.
Millions of Americans first met Bernie Sanders, -hour filibuster
schools.Her achievements threatened vested interests, who successfully organized to oust her. This passing political defeat has launched Rhee onto a national stage—and it will galvanize the next movement for reform.
dysfunction. There also is plenty of rhetoric and posturing, but one man stands out as dedicated and passionate about improving education in our city: Bob Craves. Bob’s work as co-founder, chairman and chief
executive of the College Success Foundation inspires underserved students in six high schools in Wards 7 and 8 to graduate, enroll in college, earn a bachelor’s degree, lead productive lives and give back to their communities.
JONATHAN CAPEHART Post editorial writer and blogger
Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), an Iraq war
veteran, worked the halls of theHouse for more than a year to secure the votes to pass—twice— the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the 17-year-old policy that bans gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military. In a city filledwith peoplewho talk a good game
about their strong convictions,Murphy turned his words into results.He only served two terms, but repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell”will be his lasting legacy.
SEN. ARLEN SPECTER Democratic senator from Pennsylvania
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