Bob Woodward, a journalistic icon, has gotten a little too big for his britches. He just cannot resist the urge to play hardball with Washington’s powerbrokers. Last week, Woodward revealed that he might have been the first reporter who was leaked information about CIA “operative” Valerie Plame, wife of the now-discredited Joe Wilson.

The once-mighty Woodward has been censured by his own newspaper, the Washington Post. In a column published yesterday, the Post’s ombudsman, Deborah Howell, wrote that Woodward’s actions “put the paper in a terrible light:”

The Post took a hit to its credibility with readers last week when Bob Woodward revealed that he had been told about the identity of CIA analyst Valerie Plame more than two years ago but had kept it to himself for fear of being subpoenaed. Readers in droves wrote that they were angry and disappointed. That disappointment was rife in The Post’s newsroom, too.

She distanced the Post from Woodward, explaining:

While Woodward is listed as an assistant managing editor, he has no management duties. He comes and goes as he pleases, mostly writing his best-selling books on what happens behind the doors of power, and he reports only to Executive Editor Len Downie. He is allowed to keep juicy stories to himself until his latest book is unveiled on the front page of The Post. He is the master of the anonymous source.

Last week we found out that he kept the kind of information from Downie that is a deeply serious sin not to disclose to a boss — the kind that can get even a very good reporter in the doghouse for a long time. He also committed another journalistic sin — commenting on National Public Radio and “Larry King Live” about the Plame investigation without disclosing his early knowledge of Plame’s identity.

Finally, Howell calls for more oversight over Woodward’s freewheeling activities:

What now? Woodward ought to have an editor; every reporter needs one. Downie needs to meet with him frequently or assign him to another top-line editor here. In any case, an editor needs to know what he’s working on and whom he’s talking to. The Post needs to exercise more oversight. Woodward needs the grounding a good editor gives.

It boils down to this: There ought to be clear rules, easy for readers and Post staffers to understand, about Woodward’s job at The Post. He has to operate under the rules that govern the rest of the staff — even if he’s rich and famous.

Now I certainly do not begrudge Woodward for bringing down the paranoid Nignew administration, but that was long ago. One has to question what is going on in Woodward’s head now. He lost legitimacy with me when he falsely charged that President Bush and the Saudis had a secret “deal” to keep oil prices low in the run-up to the 2004 presidential election.

Plamegate does expose a certain hypocrisy in the media. On the one hand, many reporters were eager to learn the source of the supposed White House leak — to fuel their mission to bring down Bush. But what does this do to the tradition of keeping a story’s sources secret? On the other hand, many certainly would not want to shut down government leaks, an awesome source for news stories. The Fitzgerald investigation into the Plame matter will certainly cause lawmakers to think very carefully before stepping forward as anonymous sources.

Howell explains:

Jennifer Seavey, a journalism teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, wrote that this story “sends chills down my spine because it adds another layer to the ongoing impression that reporters are literally or figuratively in bed with their subjects.”

In bed with their own subjects? More likely, drunk with power, on missions to editorialize — or both.

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Related: Political Correctness

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