'Reporter's Privilege' Under Fire From Obama Administration Amid Broader War On Leaks

[Amelia]

The Obama administration Friday morning continued its headlong attack on the right of reporters to protect their confidential sources in leak investigations.

Before a panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, a Department of Justice lawyer argued that New York Times reporter James Risen should be forced to testify in the trial of former CIA agent Jeffrey Sterling, who is charged with leaking classified information to Risen about a botched plot against the Iranian government.

Rather than arguing the specifics of the case, DOJ appellate lawyer Robert A. Parker asserted that there is no reporter's privilege when a journalist receives an illegal leak of national security secrets.

....

'Reporter's Privilege' Under Fire From Obama Administration Amid Broader War On Leaks




Thoughts?

 

[Amelia]

anyone?

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

anyone?

Real threads about real issues get zip attraction around here anymore. You must mention sex, dog eating, being born in Kenya or some other such nonsense to get hits.

On topic it does not surprise me since this comes from the party of the Fairness Doctrine.

 

[pinqy]

The Obama administration Friday morning continued its headlong attack on the right of reporters to protect their confidential sources in leak investigations.

Before a panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, a Department of Justice lawyer argued that New York Times reporter James Risen should be forced to testify in the trial of former CIA agent Jeffrey Sterling, who is charged with leaking classified information to Risen about a botched plot against the Iranian government.

Rather than arguing the specifics of the case, DOJ appellate lawyer Robert A. Parker asserted that there is no reporter's privilege when a journalist receives an illegal leak of national security secrets.

....

'Reporter's Privilege' Under Fire From Obama Administration Amid Broader War On Leaks




Thoughts?

The US has never recognized any right of reporters to protect a source. A privilege that doesn't exist can hardly be under assault.

 

[g5000]

The Obama administration Friday morning continued its headlong attack on the right of reporters to protect their confidential sources in leak investigations.

Before a panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, a Department of Justice lawyer argued that New York Times reporter James Risen should be forced to testify in the trial of former CIA agent Jeffrey Sterling, who is charged with leaking classified information to Risen about a botched plot against the Iranian government.

Rather than arguing the specifics of the case, DOJ appellate lawyer Robert A. Parker asserted that there is no reporter's privilege when a journalist receives an illegal leak of national security secrets.

....

'Reporter's Privilege' Under Fire From Obama Administration Amid Broader War On Leaks




Thoughts?

The fact it is Obama going after the reporter is immaterial. The incident happened on Bush's watch, and any successor would have gone after the reporter.

I think the government is going to have a tough go getting the court to force the reporter to testify against his source.

These kind of government secrets vs. free press issues are always sticky, but I strongly believe it is critical we have as free a press as possible. Without a free press, tryanny is right around the corner. And what with the pool of journalists these days being comprised mostly of gutter hacks, we need all the intelligent and energetic watchdogs of liberty we can get.

 

[ladyliberal]

The Obama administration Friday morning continued its headlong attack on the right of reporters to protect their confidential sources in leak investigations.

Before a panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, a Department of Justice lawyer argued that New York Times reporter James Risen should be forced to testify in the trial of former CIA agent Jeffrey Sterling, who is charged with leaking classified information to Risen about a botched plot against the Iranian government.

Rather than arguing the specifics of the case, DOJ appellate lawyer Robert A. Parker asserted that there is no reporter's privilege when a journalist receives an illegal leak of national security secrets.

....

'Reporter's Privilege' Under Fire From Obama Administration Amid Broader War On Leaks




Thoughts?

The US has never recognized any right of reporters to protect a source. A privilege that doesn't exist can hardly be under assault.

You overstate the case somewhat. There is a reporter's privilege, derived from the First Amendment, statute, and DOJ guidelines: Reporters' privilege - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

That being said, the privilege is pretty weak compared to the privileges of attorneys, doctors, therapists, priests, spouses, etc. Risen seems to have some privilege that the courts have already recognized, but it seems likely that he will have to provide at least some evidence that he'd rather not (or go to jail).

It's unfortunate that the Obama administration has been so aggressive in pursuing leakers. I'm not sure what to make of it, except to note that Obama has been more aggressive than the Bush administration in other national security matters as well (i.e., drones).

 

[Katzndogz]

obama only likes leaks when he's the one giving them out.

 

[g5000]

If anyone could point out an intermediate and yet a tenable position between the complete independence and the entire servitude of opinion, I should perhaps be inclined to adopt it, but the difficulty is to discover this intermediate position. Intending to correct the licentiousness of the press and to restore the use of orderly language, you first try the offender by a jury; but if the jury acquits him, the opinion which was that of a single individual becomes the opinion of the whole country. Too much and too little has therefore been done; go farther, then. You bring the delinquent before permanent magistrates; but even here the cause must be heard before it can be decided; and the very principles which no book would have ventured to avow are blazoned forth in the pleadings, and what was obscurely hinted at in a single composition is thus repeated in a multitude of other publications. The language is only the expression and, if I may so speak, the body of the thought, but it is not the thought itself. Tribunals may condemn the body, but the sense, the spirit of the work is too subtle for their authority. Too much has still been done to recede, too little to attain your end; you must go still farther. Establish a censorship of the press. But the tongue of the public speaker will still make itself heard, and your purpose is not yet accomplished; you have only increased the mischief. Thought is not, like physical strength, dependent upon the number of its agents; nor can authors be counted like the troops that compose an army. On the contrary, the authority of a principle is often increased by the small number of men by whom it is expressed. The words of one strong-minded man addressed to the passions of a listening assembly have more power than the vociferations of a thousand orators; and if it be allowed to speak freely in any one public place, the consequence is the same as if free speaking was allowed in every village. The liberty of speech must therefore be destroyed as well as the liberty of the press. And now you have succeeded, everybody is reduced to silence. But your object was to repress the abuses of liberty, and you are brought to the feet of a despot. You have been led from the extreme of independence to the extreme of servitude without finding a single tenable position on the way at which you could stop.

LIBERTY OF THE PRESS IN THE UNITED STATES

 

[saveliberty]

The reporter is free to protect his/her source. They just get slapped with contempt of court and can visit jail as long as they want to continue the protection. Personally, a reporter who leaks national security information irresponsibly should face some type of charge to begin with.

 

[Clementine]

The Obama administration Friday morning continued its headlong attack on the right of reporters to protect their confidential sources in leak investigations.

Before a panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, a Department of Justice lawyer argued that New York Times reporter James Risen should be forced to testify in the trial of former CIA agent Jeffrey Sterling, who is charged with leaking classified information to Risen about a botched plot against the Iranian government.

Rather than arguing the specifics of the case, DOJ appellate lawyer Robert A. Parker asserted that there is no reporter's privilege when a journalist receives an illegal leak of national security secrets.

....

'Reporter's Privilege' Under Fire From Obama Administration Amid Broader War On Leaks




Thoughts?

This is all for show. I suspect they know who the leak(s) are and want to divert attention from yet another fuck up. This administration always blames someone for their bad decisions. This leak didn't come from some lowly government employee.

 

[ladyliberal]

This is all for show. I suspect they know who the leak(s) are and want to divert attention from yet another fuck up. This administration always blames someone for their bad decisions. This leak didn't come from some lowly government employee.

Are you aware that the leak in question occurred during the Bush administration? How does that fit in with your unsupported conspiracy theory?