"I'm not a spy, I'm a journalist"

"I'm not a spy, I'm a journalist"

by digby

My piece for Salon today discusses this new survey from Human Rights Watch and the ACLU about government encroachments on freedom of the press and the the lawyer-client relationship. It's a chilling report:
Civil libertarians of all political stripes should be deeply concerned about this comprehensive new survey of national security and intelligence lawyers and journalists from Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union. Professionals in both these areas report a shocking decline in their ability to function properly in their constitutionally protected areas of concern. G. Alex Sinha, the author of the report warns that “The work of journalists and lawyers is central to our democracy. When their work suffers, so do we.”

Human Rights Watch and the ACLU interviewed more than 50 journalists from outlets throughout American media and found a high level of insecurity and anxiety among them. They report that journalists are having to adopt extreme, clandestine measures to protect sources, such as complicated encryption, burner phones and being forced to meet exclusively in person. One prominent reporter was said to be representative of the feelings of many when he explained that, “I don’t want the government to force me to act like a spy. I’m not a spy; I’m a journalist.”
Read on. This is becoming a very serious problem and one that partisan of all sides should be able to agree upon. When you have government actors who see leaking of government misconduct as the equivalent of a property crime, something has gone very, very wrong. That "property" belongs to the people. They seem to have forgotten that.

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