New Statement from Anita Busch on the Need for an Investigation of the L.A. Times’s Reporting on Pellicano
Anita Busch has issued another statement regarding her call for an investigation of Chuck Philips’s reporting:
Everyone:
I wanted to thank you all sincerely for standing by and understanding my constraints in not being able to talk freely during the past six years as the Pellicano case was being investigated and then prosecuted. Following the guilty verdicts which were handed up this week, I have called for an independent investigation into the L.A. Times’ relationship to Anthony Pellicano and, more specifically, into Chuck Philips’ reporting of the Pellicano case.
I was a victim of crime, but I was also a longtime journalist. And there are basic journalistic questions that need to be examined:
1) What is the ethical question for any newspaper when a longtime news source turns out to be a criminal?
2) What is the best course of action when a source who is found to be a criminal has relationships with key people at the newspaper?
3) Specifically, why wouldn’t the L.A. Times lawyer Karlene Goller — who wanted Mr. Pellicano aboard to help investigate the threat against me — not immediately recuse herself or likewise be removed by the paper from anything having to do with Mr. Pellicano once he was arrested?
Chuck Philips said that this same lawyer urged him to call Pellicano after I was threatened. About a year later, she was directly involved with legal issues prior to my grand jury appearance — a grand jury investigating the very man she sought help from, Anthony Pellicano.
4) Why was reporter Chuck Philips — who had spoken openly about how friendly he was with Pellicano and admitted that Pellicano was his longtime news source — allowed to report story after story on the Pellicano case? In nearly every instance, his stories went against the FBI and the U.S. Attorney trying to prosecute his longtime news source.
5) What did Mr. Pellicano specifically do for the newspaper in the past?
These are just a few of the questions that should be answered about the paper’s relationship to Mr. Pellicano, and it appears the only way to proceed objectively would be for the Times to agree to an independent investigation. Pellicano had relationships inside the L.A. Times long before I got there in 2002; the relationships also pre-dated editor John Carroll’s and Dean Baquet’s time there.
In the same way that the L.A. Times needed to clear the air after the Staples Center controversy, I suggest that the paper hire a panel of outside ethicists, journalists and experts to investigate.
Pellicano and his clients used and abused the media to destroy their targets. Other victims know well of what I speak. Other journalists know, too. And journalists are the ones who must shine a light on this.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “Our lives begin to end the day we remain silent on things that matter.”
I was a journalist. And I know that journalism — and how it was used and abused by a bunch of criminals — very much matters.
Anita
As I said, there will be more to come on this site on this issue. Stay tuned.
And the paper doesn’t need to hire anyone to investigate. Some of us are willing to do it for free!
UPDATE: Thanks to Instapundit for the link. I have several other posts on this issue. Start here for more.
Wow!
Just wondering who she sent this to. I certainly hope it was addressed to the Times. Anita Busch is a gutsy young lady and I wish her success in eliminating the rot and stench a the Times. She has an able ally in you, so keep us up to date on what’s happning.
Incidently, the NY Times ran a piece just after Pellicano’s conviction chiding the prosecutors for going after the “little fish” (Pellicano) and not the big ones. Tough to do when the only player is keeping his mouth shut. But 20+ years on federal charges isn’t a bad day’s work.
Just wonder if one recently departed LA Timesman who is now at the NY Times might be trying to give aid and comfort to his old colleagues?
I don’t think you will see much on this in any other newspaper, nor in Editor & Publisher. The industry is really on a slide. One former newspaper publisher told me he doesn’t know of any newpaper that had less tha a 10% revenue drop. They are in a circle the wagons mode and see any setback (ethical or otherwise) as a potentially fatal disaster. The new newpaper acquirers are so overleveraged and undercapitalized they are hanging by a thread. Don’t count on Sam Zell to get holy.
Thanks for your coverage of this.
Corky Boyd (4ef332) — 5/17/2008 @ 10:37 pmI wonder how much of Ms. Busch’s statement could be applied to the San Diego Union Tribune and their relationship with San Diego’s City Hall. Check out Don Bauder’s Scam Diego for further information.
Alan Kellogg (aaed12) — 5/18/2008 @ 3:29 amAs the trial of Barack Obama’s friend, Tony Rezko, nears its end in Chicago, speculation is rife as to what kind of cooperation he might offer the government if he is convicted. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, this week, the federal trial of private investigator, Anthony Pellicano ended with his conviction in federal court on 76 (out of 77) counts, including wiretapping, racketeering, wire fraud, etc. Sentencing is set for September 24. Pellicano faces 20 years on each of the racketeering counts and 5 years on most other counts.
Pellicano is a tough-talking thug, who has bragged of using physical force on behalf of his clients-including the use of knives and baseball bats. He has been linked to several celebrity clients including comedian Chris Rock, who was dragged in to testify at the trial.
Pellicano’s name has also been linked to another prominent celebrity-Hillary Rodham Clinton-dating back to the days when she was First Lady. According to numerous reports at the time, Pellicano was one of the private investigators brought in to “investigate”-or harass women who were claiming sexual affairs-or approaches by President Clinton. The investigators were dubbed, “the Clinton Shadow Team”.(Clinton attorney, David Kendall, has denied to the NY Daily News that Pellicano was ever used by anyone connected to the Clinton White House.)
Others say different. According to Joseph Farrah in World Net Daily, July 2005, Pellicano was one of the investigators working for Terry Lenzner’s Investigative Group International in Washington DC when they were hired by the Clintons to check into the backgrounds of their critics-and female associates of Bill Clinton.
According to Carl Limbach of Newsmax (in 2003), Pellicano was hired by the Clintons in 1992 to discredit the claims of Jennifer Flowers about her relationship with Bill Clinton. Pellicano is reportedly the one who analyzed Flowers’ tape-recorded conversations with Bill and pronounced them doctored. Pellicano’s involvement in discrediting the Flowers tapes was also described in Ron Kessler’s book, “Inside the White House”.
According to Limbach (Newsmax 2-2-99), Pellicano also reportedly is the one who dug up Monica Lewinsky’s ex-boyfriend, a teacher named Andy Bleier, who claimed that Lewinsky told him of her plans to go to Washington and “get her presidential knee pads on”.
According to the Washington Post, in an article dated 2-22-98, Sidney Blumenthal was asked (in the grand jury)about contact he had had with three private investigators, Lenzner, Jack Palladino and Pellicano. The Post also reported that Pellicano had denied doing background investigations on Special Prosecutor, Ken Starr and his staff. He refused to say if he had done work on the Lewinsky matter.
In fairness, it must be pointed out that many of these above sources are conservative. They charge that the mainstream news media has not followed the so-called Clinton-Pellicano connection-ever since his initial arrest in 2002. It should also be noted that if Pellicano decides to “roll over” on the Clintons, prosecutors should only be concerned about illegal allegations-not information that would simply embarrass Hillary Clinton.
I should note that the news article I read this week announcing Pellicano’s conviction (Orange County Register) said nothing about Pellicano’s alleged connection to the Clintons.
Reported or not, Senator Clinton must be watching the events in LA with some trepidation, just as Obama is surely watching the events in Chicago-a tale of two cities- or a tale of two Tonys, if you will.
gary fouse
fouse, gary c (7b7c7c) — 5/18/2008 @ 9:23 amfousesquawk
Alan @ #2…
Another Drew (8018ee) — 5/18/2008 @ 12:33 pmAnyone who has been around politics in San Diego for any length of time knows that the SD U-T is a cornerstone of the Downtown, GOB, Establishment culture. Previous generations seemed to wield that power in a more postive direction than has been appearant the last 15-20 years.