TIME Deliberately Sat on Rove Information

Editor & Publisher notes that the L.A. Times has a major piece on the Plame investigation. The article offers some new revelations and, in its conclusion, points to an issue that may gain a lot of attention in the coming days.

The article details conversations involving Karl Rove, "Scooter" Libby, Matt Cooper and Robert Novak. But near its conclusion it raises an emerging issue, promoted by Michael Wolff of Vanity Fair, among others: If Time magazine had gone public about Rove's conversations with Cooper, it might have had some impact on the Bush-Kerry race for the White House last year.

Not until this summer did Cooper ask Rove for a waiver to talk to the grand jury, and ultimately the public, about their conversation. The L.A. Times article today notes that he did not do this before “because his lawyer advised against it.” But the reporters add that in addition, “Time editors were concerned about becoming part of such an explosive story in an election year.”

The story concludes: "The result was that Cooper's testimony was delayed nearly a year, well after Bush's reelection."

Okay. So the editors at Time had information that they had a responsibility to share with the American people. But, because they didn't want to get "involved," they sat on the information and clearly influenced the outcome of the 2004 election. Nice job, Time!