Though the court-marital of Army Lieutenant Ehren Watada is still slated to go down next week, independent journalist Sarah Olson will not be called upon to testify. Two charges of “conduct unbecoming an officer,” stemming from anti-war statements Lt. Watada made to Olson that she subsequently published, have been dropped. Watada stipulates to his public utterances being true, which means the Army may still use them against him in retaliation for speaking out against the occupation of Iraq.
The Army only capitulated after Defend the Press caught the eyes of the media more generally. This produced a flood of coverage of Olson’s ensnarement in the Watada case and generated a spike of angry correspondence to the presiding judge in Watada’s trial.
It’s nice to see that a demonstration of occasional backbone from “professional” journalists can still make small differences; it’s disappointing that most of them are still neglecting the story behind the story.
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