Whistleblower or leaker?

In pLamegate, we all know that the person(s) suspected of ‘outing’ a ‘covert’ (heh) agent were routinely called ‘leakers’ – well the media has now ordained the leakers of the NSA eavesdropping ‘scandal’ not as leakers, but as ‘whistleblowers’. Newsbusters explains.

Why won’t the press refer to both of them as ‘leakers’? It seems to me that the only time the media prefers to use the term “leaker” is when they want to push someone’s guilt, but use the “whistleblower” term in order to try and make the leaker look like a maverick.

And as a sidenote, it’s also not clear whether or not the Plame ‘leak/outing’ was intentional.

Once again, this goes to show how the media sets the tone and frames the debate, leaving the rest of us to try and clear up the confusion they’ve created in the meantime.

Hat tip: Rob at Say Anything

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