The New Media Diva

From the Chicago Tribune:

As the federal probe into Gov. Rod Blagojevich intensified in recent weeks, editors and reporters at the Chicago Tribune balanced a competitive story with a rare request from U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald’s office: To hold off on what they uncovered until a key phase in the investigation could be carried out.

Except in unusual circumstances, newspapers rarely comply with such requests because journalists typically try to steer clear of doing anything that can be seen as working with the governmental agencies they cover.

In case you haven’t heard, the Illinois governor has been arrested for all types of foolishness.

But the interesting part of this case is the Chicago Tribune’s decision to hold their findings per a request from Patrick Fitzgerald’s office. Apparently the paper had the goods at least eight weeks ago, well before the elections.

If the CT had gone ahead and published their story, how do you think this would have affected Obama’s chances (being the junior senator from the state and having connections, albeit loose, to Blagojevich)?