Media Matters for America Delivers Nearly 5,000 Letters Urging CNN Not to Renew Robert Novak's Contract

December 7, 2005 (Washington, DC) - Media Matters for America delivered nearly 5,000 letters to CNN's Washington Bureau today urging the network not to renew its contract with syndicated columnist and CNN contributor Robert D. Novak. Novak's contract with CNN is reportedly set to expire in early 2006, but the controversial conservative pundit has not appeared on the channel since August 2005, when he was suspended after uttering an obscenity and storming off the set. In the two years since he exposed Valerie Plame, wife of former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, as a CIA operative, Novak has made several contradictory statements regarding crucial issues in the case; the ongoing leak investigation has so far led to the indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

"While Mr. Novak remains suspended by CNN for uttering an obscenity on live TV and storming off the set, I hope they take the next appropriate step of not renewing his contract," said David Brock, President and CEO of Media Matters for America. "In addition to Novak's long history of spreading conservative misinformation on CNN, his credibility as one of the network's contributors has been severely compromised by his contradictory statements and accounts, as well as by his complete lack of candor, on the issue of his involvement in the outing of Valerie Plame."

As Media Matters noted on August 5:

• Novak contradicted his own account of how he was given Plame's name. He first claimed that "two administration officials" gave him the name because they thought it was "significant." After the Justice Department investigation began, Novak claimed the officials had given him Plame's name only in an "offhand" way.
• In his original July 14, 2003, column, Novak clearly laid out Wilson's qualifications to conduct the trip to Niger for the CIA to investigate allegations that Iraq had sought to purchase uranium from the African country. Wilson's résumé included 15 years as a Foreign Service officer and his appointment as ambassador to Gabon by President George H.W. Bush. After the Justice Department investigation was launched, Novak began to repeat publicly that he was initially "curious" about why Wilson had been chosen to investigate the Niger allegations.
• In a July 15, 2004, column, Novak accurately stated that in its 2004 report on prewar intelligence on Iraq, the Senate Intelligence Committee had not reached an official conclusion as to whether Plame had suggested Wilson for the fact-finding mission to Niger. But in his August 1, 2005, column, Novak contradicted his earlier reporting, falsely stating that the committee's unanimous report refuted Wilson's denial, concluding that Wilson's wife had "suggested his name for the trip."

"In light of the recent indictments handed down against Libby by special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald, I trust that CNN will acknowledge the seriousness of this matter and make Novak's suspension permanent," added Brock.

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