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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsObama administration mistakes journalism for espionage
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-obama-administration-mistakes-news-for-espionage/2013/05/20/0cf398e8-c17e-11e2-8bd8-2788030e6b44_story.htmlThe Obama administration has no business rummaging through journalists phone records, perusing their e-mails and tracking their movements in an attempt to keep them from gathering news. This heavy-handed business isnt chilling, its just plain cold.
It also may well be unconstitutional. In my reading, the First Amendment prohibition against abridging the freedom .?.?. of the press should rule out secretly obtaining two months worth of the personal and professional phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors, including calls to and from the main AP phone number at the House press gallery in the Capitol. Yet this is what the Justice Department did.
The unwarranted snooping, which was revealed last week, would be troubling enough if it were an isolated incident. But it is part of a pattern that threatens to redefine investigative reporting as criminal behavior.
The Post reported Monday that the Justice Department secretly obtained phone and e-mail records for Fox News reporter James Rosen, and that the FBI even tracked his movements in and out of the main State Department building. Rosens only apparent transgression? Doing what reporters are supposed to do, which is to dig out the news.
Smarmie Doofus
(14,498 posts)One of the 99
(2,280 posts)thinks they have more rights and privileges than the average person. If any average person did what the AP did, the FBI would be doing a lot more than looking at our phone records. They would be listening to our calls and be invading every part of our lives. The problem is that our millionaire press corps thinks they are better than the average person and deserve special treatment.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Imagine that our government would *ever* violate the privacy of ordinary citizens!
Unfortunately, it took surveillance of our free press for any of the mainstream media to begin to show even a remote interest in the growing assaults by government on our privacy and civil protections.
One of the 99
(2,280 posts)You'll see the point flying right over your head.
The Magistrate
(95,237 posts)Both these items cited were disseminations of classified material that was legitimately classified. In one instance it affected an on-going operation of great value; in the other instance, it revealed a systematic arrangement in which a person with clearance routinely passed classified information to persons without such clearance, which is a straightforward crime.
sinkingfeeling
(51,274 posts)cynatnite
(31,011 posts)Ohio Joe
(21,653 posts)Hugin
(32,773 posts)Along with the other two claims I've seen about what was done in the Rosen Affair.
The Rosen/Fox case is some "me-too! me-too! me-too!" dog piling by Fox.
SlimJimmy
(3,171 posts)reporter to receive it, or even print it. The reporter was doing what reporters do, develop sources and dig for information. I think the Pentagon Papers made this abundantly clear.
The Magistrate
(95,237 posts)This is all perfectly legitimate investigation of genuine malfeasance.
SlimJimmy
(3,171 posts)as a co-conspirator. They were just fishing. The Attorney General was quite specific in his testimony before Congress recently. Why the judge signed a warrant is really beyond my understanding. Had opposing counsel had the opportunity to defend the reporter prior to the request, I seriously doubt a warrant would have been issued.
http://theweek.com/article/index/244447/why-the-justice-department-spied-on-a-fox-news-reporter
Holder, during testimony before the House Judiciary Committee last week, said that targeting journalists had not "fared well in American history" and suggested there was a high bar for prosecutions. The focus, he said, "should be on those people who break their oath and put the American people at risk, not the reporters who gather the information.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/james-rosen-subpoena_n_3309678.html
The Magistrate
(95,237 posts)It takes all the sport out when the items you cite to prove yopur point contain material that demolishes it.
That a person is 'already targeted as a likely source of the leak' is far from 'they already knew who did it', and what investigators do then is take steps which 'will help build their case' in this instance nailing down the communications between their suspect and the person he was suspected of passing information to. That no one has been prosecuted to date under a statute does not mean a statute cannot or should not be invoked as an investigative tool, and this instance, there does seem to have ben a standing arrangement between the chief suspect and the reporter, invocation of conspiracy is well within bounds.
SlimJimmy
(3,171 posts)becomes a fishing expedition in order to strengthen a case. That is never a strong enough reason to go after this type of warrant. To posit that the reporter was a possible co-conspirator is nearly laughable. Let me say this as clearly as I can. He. was. doing. his. job. The very last person the DOJ should be targeting is a reporter. The AG himself said that the targeting of the reporter in these cases is not a good idea, and should not be the focus of any investigation. (you did read that part, right?) Chilling is not a strong enough word to describe the actions here. That you are arguing in favor of this type of conduct on the part of the DOJ (read FBI) speaks volumes.
And by the way, it's not sport - it's the protection of first amendment rights we are speaking of.
The Magistrate
(95,237 posts)If it is a crime for person A to hand something to person B, even though it it is not a crime for person B to receive it, in order to prove the crime of person A, it must be nailed down that it was indeed received by person B. Further, if there is reason to believe there was an on-going arrangement between person A and person B for person A to commit crime on a routine basis, it is no stretch to consider person B to be engaged in collusion which could rise to the level of conspiracy. I do not think it necessary to pay too much attention to what is said to a Congressional committee, particularly when it is said in the midst of a scandal whoop-te-doo; people say what it strikes them as politic to say, and it should not be held against them....
SlimJimmy
(3,171 posts)Committee. Are you saying that the AG of the United States lied to Congress? Are you saying that the AG of the United States has no desire to protect the first amendment rights of journalists? Did you actually read what you wrote before you hit send?
As to the co-conspirator charge the FBI Agent was trying to establish, I guess we'll know when Rosen is charged in this ... oh, that's right, he's not going to be charged. What a surprise. I guess the FBI was on a fishing expedition after all, and used a dubious means to an end.
Maybe it would help your argument if you cited a single case of a journalist being prosecuted for receiving information from a confidential source as a co-conspirator. Just one will do.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)msanthrope
(37,549 posts)need not have been provided to him---thus the warrant:
http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/local/affidavit-for-search-warrant/162/
was properly executed--
http://images.politico.com/global/2013/05/20/lamberthrosen.html
As for the AP, there is little to no prohibition on a grand jury seeking to subpoena third-party records, even for journalists. I note that Mr. Robinson cannot name what statute he thinks was violated.
railsback
(1,881 posts)that everyone is laughing at Woodward.
madokie
(51,076 posts)This has all been gone over and been shown to be the correct action already. last week. even.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)...mistake Fox Noise for journalism. The complicit media are digging up old news stories to pile onto the AP story.
WaPo: DOJ Spied On Fox News Reporter (a perfect example of media complicity - updated)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022871121
Well well well, Fox News was a co-conspirator in leaking classified docs...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022872403
They entire purpose is to shill for the GOP, jump at any opportunity to help them portray everything the administration does as a "scandal" and use their status to excuse illegal/unethical committed by Republicans.
WaPo fact checker gives WH claim that Repubs doctored email to smear the President three Pinocchios
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022877163
They did the same thing for Mitt Romney.
Pragdem
(233 posts)This is just more first world problems self-pity bullshit that we can expect from the press these days.
The self-fellating DC press bubble is completely out of touch with the concerns of the AVERAGE American, even moreso than those they cover.