US News Profile on Murray Waas

Murray Waas, one of the reporters who has been following the Fitzgerald investigation closely and has written stories on the legal problems of Scooter Libby and other White House figures involved in the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson, is interviewed in this week's US News & World Report:

...the slightly disheveled Philly native has always managed to remain well under the public's radar – refusing to appear on television, toiling independently as a freelancer until recently joining the respected National Journal, and always working the phones and a network of sources from his Northwest Washington home.

But his cover's been blown. With the publication in recent months of his news-breaking stories on the Bush administration's involvement in manipulating prewar Iraq intelligence – particularly its attempt to discredit former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and to out his CIA operative wife, Valerie Plame – Waas has gotten a sometimes bitter taste of what he refers to as his "five minutes of fame." He's now dealing not only with sources and editors but also pesky cable television bookers who never get the answer they want and new interest in his personal and professional life.

"I'll welcome my obscurity back. Obscurity is my natural state of being. I'm comfortable with it. And it's a great companion," says Waas. But his journalism will continue to draw attention to him. Waas's exhaustive National Journal stories on special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's inquiry into the leak of Plame's name to reporters has been praised by media critics and White House watchers – Jay Rosen of "PressThink" called him the new Bob Woodward, and columnist Dan Froomkin of WashingtonPost.com chided large media organizations for not acknowledging and following up on his disclosures.

Though Waas has been knocked a bit off balance by the bright light now shining on him, he says he wants to keep pushing "to really get to the bottom of how we got into the war – the prewar politics and whether the American people were told the truth."

Yes, Virginia, there was a time when print reporters were more interested in getting the story than appearing on TV. I don't mind a reporter appearing on TV to explain a story that's just been written but for the last twenty-five years, I've seen far too many print 'reporters' leave their in-depth reporting behind for the potential of those dazzling six and seven figure salaries on TV. I don't want to put Murray Waas on a pedestal. But I'm glad there's still people like him around.