Variety Calls NYT’s “NSA Eavesdropping” Reporter James Risen a Hero

The magazine to the stars, Variety, called the New York Times’ James Risen a “journalistic hero.” In an article about the problems that Risen’s new book, "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration," might pose for the Times, Variety reporter Michael Learmonth began by offering great praise for the author: “After years of entanglement with Judith Miller, the New York Times can celebrate a true journalistic hero in James Risen, the reporter who uncovered the NSA eavesdropping story.” 

Learmonth continued:

“The book also indicates Iraq had abandoned its nuclear weapons program shortly after the first Gulf War, but that information was ignored by the neocons selling an invasion of Iraq. Those on the selling end of the equation had the ear of Miller, whose W.M.D. stories got most of the headlines when it mattered.”

Learmonth concluded by expressing concern for the future of this new “hero”:

“Risen told NPR the revelations on eavesdropping were leaked to him by administration officials ‘deeply concerned with the topic.’

“Now the Bush Administration wants to know who those officials are, which threatens to put Risen in the same position Miller was in if he decides to protect his sources.”