The Bakaly Debacle: The Role of the Press in High-Profile Criminal Investigations

Abstract

Others have examined why prosecutors or law enforcement agents may be inclined to leak information regarding ongoing criminal investigations, documented the rules that govern federal prosecutors\u27 interaction with the press in such circumstances, outlined the difficulties encountered in enforcing those rules, and critiqued the performance of Mr. Starr\u27s office in this regard. In other words, the dynamic as it flows from governmental actors to the press has been scrutinized. I would like to suggest that a more searching examination be conducted of the press\u27s role, and perhaps its responsibilities, in this context. Because I am neither a journalist nor a First Amendment scholar (and have committed to an article, not a book), I do not undertake exhaustively to cover this topic, or even to answer many of the questions I raise. I write in hopes that others will find the perspective of a criminal lawyer interesting in the ongoing debate regarding the place of the press in the Lewinsky affair and in high-profile or scandal-driven criminal investigations generally