Congress Has Lost All Perspective When It Considers Prosecuting Journalists As Spies

from the who's-the-real-enemy-of-the-state? dept

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We've noted the unfortunate fact that President Obama has used the espionage act to go after whistleblowers , rather than actual spies. Similarly, we've been quite concerned that people have tried to paint organizations like Wikileaks as being criminal operations or guilty of violating the Espionage Act as well. While there may be many reasons toWikileaks or Julian Assange, that does not mean that they're guilty of criminal activities in publishing classified information they obtain. That's what lots of reporters do.And, in fact, as the EFF is warning, some in Congress are now turning their sights on reporters at the NY Times for daring to publish newsworthy material, dug up through traditional reporting means. In other words, the gradual expansion of the definitions here is putting reporters at risk. Already we expanded the definition of espionage to cover whistleblowers... and now they're trying to expand it to the press who report on the information leaked by whistleblowers.It's hard not to be offended by the disdain for the Constitution displayed by these politicians. Even if no one actually goes through with a prosecution against a journalist, the chilling effects have already made their mark. Reporters are likely to think twice now about publishing that big scoop, exposing questionable government behavior, because those within the government seem to think that actually revealing troubling facts about the government is akin to being a spy.

Filed Under: espionage act, free speech, journalism