Leak Riddle: Who's Playing Whom?

Leak Riddle: Who's Playing Whom?: "Most leaks consist of quick telephone conversations that take place whenreporters and sources go through their Rolodexes making the rounds of their daily contacts. Note-taking is hurried and often sloppy, the terms of attribution signaled by an insider's shorthand -- on the record, off the record, background, deep background -- that is seldom defined explicitly but occasionally disputed after publication.
The problem is that by deliberately omitting the essential explanation of how the source is attempting to manipulate the agenda, the journalist often becomes a virtual accomplice hiding the ongoing but subterranean bureaucratic or ideological conflict at the heart of the story. In the Plame case, 'this isn't even about Wilson,' says Scott Armstrong, a former journalist and founder of the nonprofit National Security Archive. 'It has to do with two institutions fighting it out, with the CIA saying we didn't [screw] up, the White House did.' But little of that has been reflected in media coverage of the story."