Off the Record The Press, the Government, and the War over Anonymous Sources [Paperback]

Confidentiality has become a weapon in the White House's war on the press, a war fought with the unwitting complicity of the press itself. Norman Pearlstine takes us behind the scenes of one of the most controversial courtroom dramas of our time.

When Pearlstineas editor in chief of Time Inc.agreed to give prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald a reporter's notes of a conversation with a confidential source, he was vilified for betraying the freedom of the press. But Pearlstine shows that Plamegate was not the clear case it seemed to be. In his vigorously written inside story (The Washington Post), Pearlstine daringly challenges the conventional wisdom that freedom of the press is an absolute.

Indispensable . . . All students or practitioners of journalism should be required to readOff the Record. Richard Holbrooke

This is a brutally honest, tough, savvy, and absolutely riveting book . . . A provocative analysis of a topic critical to the future of journalism and democracy. Walter Isaacson, president of the Aspen Institute

Norman Pearlstine pulls no punches on either journalism or law in this fascinating book. Anthony Lewis, longtime New York Times columnist

Norman Pearlstine, editor in chief of Time Inc. from 1995 to 2005, was previously the managing editor ofThe Wall Street Journal.He trained as a lawyer before making his career as a journalist. He was just named chief content officer of Bloomberg L.P.