It's a question the media - NBC News in particular - needs to answer but hasn't.
Why is NBC News correspondent Pete Williams covering the Plamegate story considering that Williams was a longtime staffer working for Dick Cheney?
In 1986, Williams was then Congressman Dick Cheney's press secretary and legislative assistant. In 1989, when Cheney was named Assistant Secretary of Defense, Williams followed his boss to DOD as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.
You'll find this information on NBC's website, but you won't find it on screen when Williams delivers a report. No disclaimer. No disclosure. Instead, NBC winks at what is a clear case of apparent conflict of interest - and loyalties.
As the NBC justice correspondent covering the Plame investigation, Williams is in a position to shape public perception of alleged White House involvement.
The New York Times nailed the point in a report on the press conference following Libby's indictment. In noting the "hall-of-mirrors element" to Williams's presence as the NBC representative, the Times outed Williams's past association with Cheney and reported that Williams asked Patrick Fitzgerald, in a question that smacked of partisanship, how he could take the word of "three reporters" (including NBC's own Tim Russert, the Times snarked) "versus the vice president's chief of staff."
"What I'll say is, we're comfortable proceeding," Fitzgerald replied.
Without knowing Williams's résumé, such a question could easily pass as aggressive reporting. In context with Williams's connection to Cheney, the motive appears much darker.
Is it any wonder the news media no longer enjoys the trust of the public? Forget for a moment (if you can) the media's shameful role in huckstering the country into an unnecessary war. Forget for a moment its lionization of the cowboy who heads the corrupt, incompetent regime that lead us into the greatest strategic blunder in the nation's history.
An institution that won't even police blatant conflicts of interest within its own ranks hardly deserves anyone's trust.
National Debunker