Everybody in New York has probably already seen yesterday’s Page Six, with its Pinch hit from former Time Inc editor in chief Norman Pearlstine’s oddly titled memoir, Off the Record, but for the rest of us:

Pearlstine says he met Sulzberger in 2004 after Miller and Cooper were threatened with jail for refusing to testify about who leaked the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame. As the publishing pooh-bahs discussed pushing for a federal shield law to protect journos, Sulzberger “pulled out a button that said ‘Free Judy, Free Matt, Free Press.’ He wanted to distribute at least 10,000 of them to employees at the Times and Time Inc.,” writes Pearlstine, who nixed the idea. “We agreed about the need for a shield law, but I worried that distributing the buttons and lobbying for the shield law might inflame the courts without increasing public support for our case.” Pearlstine adds that while both the Times and Time Inc. had “long, distinguished histories as defenders of editorial independence . . . I came away from our meeting realizing [Sulzberger] had focused much more on the court of public opinion than on the courts of law.”

Meanwhile, NYT’s suffering stockholders are being urged by investment advisers to withold support for some of the company’s directors, as Stephen noted a few days ago. The Times maintains keeping control out of the hands of the common folk is essential to protect what the AP called “the editorial integrity” of the newspaper — not to mention the $4.36 million Pinch received from the company last year.