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The article reports on "New York Times" reporter Nick Kristof's obsession with prostitution. Kristof takes an annual trip to Asia and returns with a touching story about the fate of girls trafficked for sex. One year he bought two Cambodian women to free them from a life in the brothels. A trip to India has engendered criticism from the Indian press, especially P. Sainath, who notes that the real problem in India, and cause of prostitution, is the decimation of agriculture and rural industry.

The article criticizes the mass media in the United States for its reporting on the revelations that the President George W. Bush administration engaged in secret jailing and torture of people while pursuing warrantless wiretapping as part of the War on Terrorism. "The New York Times" newspaper delayed the publishing of the story on domestic spying until it became clear that the information would be published in a book by James Risen. The "Washington Post" is criticized for its handling of the information on secret Central Intelligence Agency prisons.

This editorial discusses the relation between the oil industry and the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. The author reviews a recent article in the "Washington Post" which detail a meeting between the oil companies and aids to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. The article discusses the relationship between the oil industry and the war in Iraq. The issue of American oil consumption is also discussed.

The article presents and editorial discussing "Washington Post" reporter Dana Priest's disclosure of a secret worldwide network of off-the-books CIA prison camps. The author discusses how the story motivated various investigations into Priest's source but not investigations into the prisons. A comparison of the secret prison revelation is made to the C.I.A. leak case involving Valerie Plame. According to the author, a paranoia about leaks and leakers has descended on Washington.

Offers a look at the actions of Democratic Party legislators in the United States Congress that either hurt or helped the political party. Criticism of Democratic Representative Rahm Emanuel for refusing to take a concrete position on the Iraq War during his appearance on the television program "Meet the Press"; Praise for Michigan Senator Carl Levin for writing a "Washington Post" opinion editorial that indicated support for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

Presents letters to the editor in response to articles in previous issues of "The Nation." "Oversexed," which focused on human trafficking, in the Aug. 29/Sept. 5, 2005 issue; Response to a letter regarding "Oversexed" by the author, Debbie Nathan.

Offers a discussion about images of the New Orleans flood in Louisiana shown on newspapers and television screens across the United States. Images of poor people that were neither condescending nor condemnatory; Article by Jason DeParle in the "New York Times"; Prevalence of poverty among African Americans in New Orleans; Issues of race and class as dimensions of the disaster and emergency management efforts; Reference to an interview with House majority leader Tom DeLay regarding the poor blacks who were not evacuated from the city before the hurricane struck; Criticism of Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly for ignoring the class implications of the pre-hurricane evacuation.

Presents the response of the author, Katrina vanden Heuvel, to right-wing fundamentalists such as Rush Limbaugh who linked Hurricane Katrina with vanden Heuval's name. Criticism of "National Review" journalist Jonah Goldberg for linking vanden Heuvel with the hurricane; Opinion that natural disasters should be above political quips.

The article looks at the issue of protecting reporters' sources and the public's need to know in light of the investigation being led by special prosector into the leaking of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame to the media. What's with these special prosecutors anyway? Kenneth Starr is hired to investigate an obscure land deal and ends up impeaching the President for not coming clean about his sex life. And now Patrick Fitzgerald, the US Attorney from Chicago appointed to find out who violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by leaking to conservative columnist Robert Novak the identity of a covert CIA employee, ends up sending to prison a New York Times reporter who never wrote about the case. Since much of the case is still shrouded in secrecy, determining the motives of the prosecutor is a mug's game. But understanding the forces in play and the issues at stake would seem to be critical to anyone who cares about the ability of the press to gather and publish the information a democracy requires. We still don't know whether Novak was actually called and what he did. In any event, the statute criminalizes leakers rather than leakees unless the leakees are engaged in "a pattern of activities intended to identify and expose covert agents." Thus far, the actions of both the special prosecutor and those he has summoned to testify have raised almost as many questions as they have answered.

Comments on a American news media, which the author contends are not reporting on the deaths of prisoners in American hands since the beginning of 2005. Suggestion that major news media are not looking into the number of prisoners who have died at the U.S. military controlled prisons and Guantánamo camp in Cuba; Major news agencies that have not reported on the deaths of detainees, including CNN, Fox, and MSNBC; Indication from LexisNexis that the "New York Times" is nearly alone in mentioning deaths; View that American deaths from September 11 are reported, but not the Iraqi deaths from war.