Covering The Capital

Justice Is ... Mute

With the opening of the Supreme Court's new term this week, Jeffrey Toobin's recently published book might help shed light on the inner workings of the notoriously tight-lipped nine. Toobin says that while gaining access and writing about the Court isn’t easy, it is necessary.


Report(ing)

This week, a copy of the Government Accountability Office's Iraq assessment was leaked to the press, apparently for fear that the final version would be watered down. This not to be confused with the White House assessment from July … not to be confused with the upcoming … well, Washington Post reporter Karen DeYoung parses the flurry of official reports.


Goodbye Karl - We Hardly Knew Ye

Presidential Adviser Karl Rove announced this week that he would be stepping down at the end of the month. Portrayed as everything from genius to puppet-master, in the end the press seemed mostly in awe of his political cunning. We take a look back at the man affectionately known as... Turd Blossom.


Be Afraid

With the Senate about to debate an Iraq withdrawal plan this week, the White House released a summary of a new National Intelligence Estimate saying Al Qaeda is still a major threat. Chicago Tribune correspondent Mark Silva says the timing was no accident.


Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Us

The Freedom of Information Act was supposed to give Americans timely access to government records. But 40 years after it went into effect, there are huge FOIA backlogs in most federal agencies. The National Security Archive’s Meredith Fuchs says a culture of secrecy is largely to blame.


Shadow of Watergate

35 years ago, five men were caught breaking into the Watergate Hotel. The burglary would give Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein the story of a lifetime, and help change the role of the press. Alicia Shepard, author of a new book on Watergate, discusses the fact & fiction of "Woodstein."


Gonzales-gate

In its reporting on Watergate, the Washington Post made Barry Sussman its special editor on the scandal. We asked him about the current scandal roiling Washington -- the firing of the "Gonzales Eight." Sussman says the press faces a similar problem now as it did then: how to keep the public interested.


You Know How To Whistle, Don't You?

Recently, whistle-blowers converged for their first ever conference in the capital. The festivities celebrated the evolution of whistle-blowing from a solitary act-of-conscience to a veritable subculture. New Republic editor Eve Fairbanks brings us news from the front lines of informing.