Joel Mowbray asserts that the MSM badly botched their coverage of the Larry Franklin investigation last fall. He says “almost every story” had a headline or subhead that contained the words “espionage” or “spying.”

There is some truth in this. Many headlines, especially those in newspapers published abroad, did say that the FBI was investigating Franklin for espionage as opposed to the lesser charge of mishandling classified information. With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight it seems clear that Lesley Stahl’s report at CBS News, “FBI Probes Pentagon Spy Case,” overplayed the espionage angle.

According to Nexis, however, quite a few newspaper headlines did not include the phrases that Mowbray objects to (see examples in the jump below).

The Washington Post is a case in point. Its story, the first to identify Franklin by name, was headlined, “FBI Probe Targets Pentagon Official; Analyst Allegedly Gave Data to Israel.” Reporters Bradley Graham and Thomas Ricks wrote,

The FBI is investigating a mid-level Pentagon official who specializes in Iranian affairs for allegedly passing classified information to Israel, and arrests in the case could come as early as next week, officials at the Pentagon and other government agencies said last night.

The name of the person under investigation was not officially released, but two sources identified him as Larry Franklin. He was described as a desk officer in the Pentagon’s Near East and South Asia Bureau, one of six regional policy sections. Franklin worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency before moving to the Pentagon’s policy branch three years ago and is nearing retirement, the officials said. Franklin could not be located for comment last night.

One government official familiar with the investigation said it is not yet clear whether the case will rise to the level of espionage or end up involving lesser charges such as improper disclosure or mishandling of classified information.

Pretty darn fair and balanced, don’t you think?

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MSM on Larry Franklin (partial sample of major newspaper headlines from August 2004):

- Washington Post: “FBI Probe Targets Pentagon Official; Analyst Allegedly Gave Data to Israel”

- New York Times, “Pentagon Official Suspected of Giving U.S. Secrets to Israel”

- Philadelphia Inquirer, “Pentagon official may have let secret data pass to Israel; A probe is looking into whether the official, who reportedly is in Rumsfeld’s office, shared classified Iran information”

- Kansas City Star, “‘Mole’ in Pentagon alleged”

- Detroit Free Press, “Alleged leak to Israel probed; Info on Iran may have been passed”

- Charlotte Observer, “Pentagon official under investigation by FBI; target of inquiry may have provided secrets on Iran to Israel”

- Washington Times, “Pentagon aide draws scrutiny from FBI”

- San Jose Mercury News, “Pentagon probed for leak to Israel; FBI looks into link to lobbying group”