Rally behind the Times

From Baroneblog, the blogging home of US News and World Report's Michael Barone:

There is a good post on "Phi Beta Cons" about the deans of several journalism schools coming to the defense of the New York Times's publication of information about SWIFT. The deans wrote in the Washington Post that the government's objections to the Times story were unfounded.

"It is the business--and the responsibility--of the press to reveal secrets," the deans write. "Despite the rhetoric of their fiercest critics, most journalists take secrets seriously."

The statement of the deans may be read at Editor & Publisher.
The piece at Baroneblog (Barone didn't author it, so far as I can tell) goes on to briefly compare the statement of the deans with Robert Novak's description of his role in the Plame case.
Here's the Novak column.

The deans claim that the House of Representatives "formally condemned the paper."
How does one formally condemn a paper without mentioning it by name????

The Republican-written resolution did not identify any publication by name. But many of the resolution's backers said The Times had acted irresponsibly.
(source)