Make No Mistake, This Case Is a Direct Attack on the Press
Published on Monday, June 2, 2014 by Freedom of the Press Foundation
Make No Mistake, This Case Is a Direct Attack on the Press
by Trevor Timm
Journalist James Risen and President Obama. 'This is the latest victory of the Obama administration
in their crackdown on sources, and in turn, investigative journalism,' say Timm. (File)
The Supreme Court today rejected New York Times reporter James Risen's appeal of a 4th Circuit decision that ruled the government can compel him to reveal his source under oath. The case, one of the most important for reporter's privilege in decades, means that Risen has exhausted his appeals and must now either testify in the leak trial of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, or face jail time for being in contempt of court. Risen has admirably vowed to go to prison rather than comply.
This is the latest victory of the Obama administration in their crackdown on sources, and in turn, investigative journalism. As the New York Times again reminded us today, they have "pursued leaks aggressively, bringing criminal charges in eight cases, compared with three under all previous administrations combined."
Make no mistake, this case is a direct attack on the press. The Justice Department has recently tightened its "guidelines" for subpoenaing reporters (which have no enforcement mechanism) and the Obama administration claims it supports a tepid journalist shield law, but this was the case where they could have shown they meant what they said about protecting journalists' rights. Instead, they argued to the court that reporter's privilege does not exist all.
By going after Risen, the Obama administration has done more damage to reporter's privilege than any other case in forty years, including the Valerie Plame leak investigation that ensnared Judy Miller during the Bush administration. The Fourth Circuit is where many national security reporters live and work, and by eviscerating the privilege there, the government has made national security reporting that much harder in an age where there has already been an explosion in use on surveillance to root out sources of journalists.
Continued at CommonDreams.org : https://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/06/02-6
Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)SamKnause
(13,088 posts)Obama administration to go down in history as the administration that killed journalism ???
Cha
(296,848 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Last edited Tue Jun 3, 2014, 11:40 PM - Edit history (2)
as evidenced by his twitter account...So I wouldn't expect anything but a jaundiced take from him on any issue...
I've tried to explain the positions of this case in an even-handed manner in the other threads, but evidently nobody has been able to see past the "Obama is killing journalism!!!!" Talking points of sensationalism to read them...And I love how Obama suddenly got complete control over the USSC and the power to dictate appeals in some of these 'analyses'
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)spooky3
(34,405 posts)cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
Sam1
(498 posts)relevant Court web site.
Hoppy
(3,595 posts)Read post in Greatest Threads about loud Obama haters.
newthinking
(3,982 posts)press then.
These are sources even most of those who now no longer identify with them, always trusted before the current era.