The Boston Globe | Boston Herald | Media Nation
The Boston Globe has defended its decision to name the woman who tipped off the FBI to the location of James “Whitey” Bulger. The newspaper published her name Sunday in an extensive story about the fugitive’s life on the lam. The Boston Herald reported Monday that the tipster, a woman from Iceland who lived near Bulger in Santa Monica, Calif., could be in danger now that her name has been made public; it followed with a story Tuesday in which congressmen demanded to know why the FBI hadn’t protected her identity. Globe reporter Shelley Murphy said Monday that reporters learned of the tipster’s identity through neighbors, and that reporters asked the FBI if the woman would be endangered if she were named. In Tuesday’s story, the Globe’s Peter Schworm writes that editors “deliberated at length over whether to print her name, but were ultimately convinced that doing so posed no danger. It had already been widely reported that the tipster was from Iceland, making her identity clear to many neighbors in Santa Monica, including Bulger and [his girlfriend Catherine] Greig.” Dan Kennedy notes that some, including journalists at the Herald, believed the Icelandic tipster was just another FBI fabrication regarding its former informant.
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