Bush wants to prosecute reporters as spies (NYT)

[kpete]

In Leak Cases, New Pressure on Journalists

By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: April 30, 2006
Earlier administrations have fired and prosecuted government officials who provided classified information to the press. They have also tried to force reporters to identify their sources.

But the Bush administration is exploring a more radical measure to protect information it says is vital to national security: the criminal prosecution of reporters under the espionage laws.

Such an approach would signal a thorough revision of the informal rules of engagement that have governed the relationship between the press and the government for many decades. Leaking in Washington is commonplace and typically entails tolerable risks for government officials and, at worst, the possibility of subpoenas to journalists seeking the identities of sources.

But the Bush administration is putting pressure on the press as never before, and it is operating in a judicial climate that seems increasingly receptive to constraints on journalists.

more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/30/washington/30leak.html?hp&ex=1146369600&en=9db240cf3f964691&ei=5094&partner=homepage
via:
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/04/bush-wants-to-prosecute-reporters-as.html

[NVMojo]

1. PROSECUTE BUSH!

[orleans]

22. my thought exactly! n/t

[Hubert Flottz]

2. Bush is a war criminal who is trying to cover his ass!

[Lars39]

3. Kinda gives new meaning to his petty 'you wouldn't pass the

background check' comment he made recently.

[Frustratedlady]

9. When I read that item,

my first thought was were they wiretapping that reporter, or why did he throw that comment out? Not a normal thing to say.

[Lars39]

20. I'd bet everybody in the press room is being wiretapped.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. When is this guy going to be removed from power?

[rodeodance]

5. This is the REAL scary part:

....But the Bush administration is putting pressure on the press as never before, and it is operating in a judicial climate that seems increasingly receptive to constraints on journalists.

[Nickster]

12. Farewell Fourth Estate, we barely knew ye. n/t

[Amonester]

26. Yep. (And it's not like we never "WARNED" them either...)

Or are they all so dumb for not having "seen it" comin' for all these years they've been "cozy and warm" to the Bu$h neo-fasci$t regime, by just spreading it's BS propaganda day in, day out, without even trying to do any real 'n easy -- because they're all so predictable 'n dumb -- searches for the Truth to prevail?

Sadly, it's not like they all ASKED for "it" and, WE TOLD THEM SO! (Here.)

[gkhouston]

31. it might end up being the good part

if the media counter-attacks. Many of them have carried enough water for * to irrigate the Sahara. With his poll numbers in the toilet, they'd be perfectly safe in attacking the papier mache god they helped construct -- and he's practically daring them to do it.

[bluethruandthru]

6. If Dems don't take control of both houses this year

we won't recognize our country by 08

[EVDebs]

23. We're almost to 'desaparacidos' stage right now, as Argentina went thru

[peacetalksforall]

7. This means that the only journalists will be government sponsored -

like imbedded truth distorters and glorifiers.

Job for Jeff! Job for Jeff? Announcing - jobs for Jeff, Les, and Candy types.

[katinmn]

8. Where's the outrage from reporters? Hmmm?

Where is the White House Press Corpse, the Society for Professional Journalists and hundreds more?

Missing in Action -- again.

Guess thay are happy being mouthpeices for the State.

[fooj]

18. SPJ Code of Ethics......

Preamble
Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility. Members of the Society share a dedication to ethical behavior and adopt this code to declare the Society's principles and standards of practice.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Seek Truth and Report It

Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.

Journalists should:

Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.
Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.
Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources' reliability.
Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Clarify conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information. Keep promises.
Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.
Never distort the content of news photos or video. Image enhancement for technical clarity is always permissible. Label montages and photo illustrations.
Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it.
Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public. Use of such methods should be explained as part of the story
Never plagiarize.
Tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so.
Examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.
Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status.
Support the open exchange of views, even views they find repugnant.
Give voice to the voiceless; official and unofficial sources of information can be equally valid.
Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.
Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.
Recognize a special obligation to ensure that the public's business is conducted in the open and that government records are open to inspection.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Minimize Harm

Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect.

Journalists should:

Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage. Use special sensitivity when dealing with children and inexperienced sources or subjects.
Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.
Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance.
Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy.
Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.
Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects or victims of sex crimes.
Be judicious about naming criminal suspects before the formal filing of charges.
Balance a criminal suspect’s fair trial rights with the public’s right to be informed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Act Independently

Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.

Journalists should:

Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.
Disclose unavoidable conflicts.
Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.
Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.
Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid bidding for news.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Be Accountable

Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.

Journalists should:

Clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct.
Encourage the public to voice grievances against the news media.
Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.
Expose unethical practices of journalists and the news media.
Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.


They have a CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY!!! How can they turn their backs on it? How can they turn their backs on us? Damn.

[Tigress DEM]

38. Um worrying about being shot at dawn, I guess.

We should be standing up for them, not bashing them. It's only the ones that have risked it to report the truth that will be branded as spies.

The ones who stand around with their thumbs up their arses aren't in danger only the ones with the cajohnes to stand up to the administration.

Do you think they mean Novak? Of course not. Judith Miller - hell no. Only reporters who helped the CIA get around the whistle-blower-proof White House will be singled out for this glorious honor - or people like Will Pitt who blew the lid off reporters being killed in Iraq by the military. Or those who reported the wrong side of the Italian Secret Service agent being shot.

If we don't stand up for them, they will be run over and its all done for.

Gawd, I hate when DEMS decide that whatever is being kicked on the ground MUST be the enemy even if it's the actual enemy doing the kicking... just because if it's on the ground we can get a piece of it. Are we nothing more than savage dogs with no brain cells to use?!

[katinmn]

45. Um you better visit FAIR or Free Press or Media Matters

Corporate media is filled with self-censoring, pandering, embedded mouthpeices.

My question is, where are the professional associations who should be standing up to this craziness?

[Tigress DEM]

48. OK, but if MSM is 80% smack and 20% reporting for the people...

It won't be the 80% that get this treatment. It's the 20% who stepped away from the koolaid and did take a risk to report the truth. So it will be the rare reporter who is an exception in MSM and an example to shame the rest of them that will get tried as a spy.

In general I prefer Truth Out and Indy Media, but it isn't just about me knowing what I need to know, it's about getting information to the masses and CNN and MSNBC and newspapers have been creeping toward journalistic intergrity more since they got the ratings on Katrina. We've got Republicans questioning this administration. If we go back to propoganda, we can kiss that goodbye too.

Not only that, these MSM corporations lease the airwaves from the public and they OWE US the Truth. Our government destroying that trust we have in them is the worst thing in terms of getting out of this mess. But the high up people who make money off MSM are the ones stiffling stories that are anti-bush in the first place. The guy on the front line isn't our enemy.

Course FAUX news is entirely corrupt, so they can go off the air for all I care.

[UTUSN]

10. Ingrate! They helped him get where he is n/t

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. He really does have a problem with checks and balances.

[rodeodance]

13. read this: WH position draws support for decison on Pentagon Papers:

....The administration's position draws support from an unlikely source — the 1971 Supreme Court decision that refused to block publication by The Times and The Washington Post of the classified history of the Vietnam War known as the Pentagon Papers. The case is generally considered a triumph for the press. But two of the justices in the 6-to-3 majority indicated that there was a basis for after-the-fact prosecution of the newspapers that published the papers under the espionage laws.

Both critics and allies of the administration say that the espionage laws on their face may well be read to forbid possession and publication of classified information by the press. Two provisions are at the heart of the recent debates.

The first, enacted in 1917, is, according to a 2002 report by Susan Buckley, a lawyer who often represents news organizations, "at first blush, pretty much one of the scariest statutes around."

It prohibits anyone with unauthorized access to documents or information concerning the national defense from telling others. The wording of the law is loose, but it seems to contain a further requirement for spoken information. Repeating such information is only a crime, it seems, if the person doing it "has reason to believe" it could be used "to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation." That condition does not seem to apply to information from documents.

[Jack Rabbit]

14. This would only expand government secrecy

Not good.

We know why we should not trust Bush and his people with this kind of power. It isn't national security they seek to protect, but their own. Bush and his aides lied about what they knew about the threat posed by Iraq and seek to use this sort of thing to keep that hidden.

What else will Bush do? If he doesn't get his way, will he just declare an investigative journalist an enemy combatent, strip him of his rights by executive fiat under one of those mysterious, hidden clauses in the Constitution that only Alberto Gonzales seems to be able to find and have the man locked up without formal charges indefinitely.

Bush is just dangerous enough to do that.

[Marr]

15. I assume Judith Miller, Novak, and Woodward will be the first prosecuted.

I mean- they're the most high profile offenders, after all. Oh wait- no they publicized secret info that the Bush traitors wanted to use for smear campaigns. Nevermind.

[BigBearJohn]

16. Time for the press to fight back and push to impeach!

[ClintonTyree]

17. Bush wants to be the only one who can leak secrets....

to get revenge on his "enemies" :eyes: Investigative journalism is off limits to everyone. Nothing will be allowed in the media unless it's from proper Bush propaganda sources. :think: Oh gee......that's what we have now, isn't it!

[Mrspeeker]

19. I thought he wanted to hire them

Or already did

[unblock]

21. just imagine how these fuckers would run the country in a REAL war!

i mean, let's imagine that the EU, russia, and china all get together and decide we're too dangerous and they try to invade. farfetched maybe, but the point is, imagine a REAL war, not some optional excursion on the other side of the planet, but an invasion of the contiguous 48 states by a credible force.

the measures they're taking now are an extreme overreaction to a JOKE of an opposition force.

yes, 9/11 was horrible, but 3,000 deaths in 5 years is not a credible threat that warrants half of the crap they're doing.

[lala_rawraw]

24. Nice

This is unreal. Where is a journo supposed to hide from this type of crap or shall they all just stop reporting since they are out there alone? Arghhhhhhhhh!!!

[Avalux]

25. two-pronged: professional journalists and bloggers

If Bushco is successful, professional journalists will be silenced for speaking out, and the internet will be government-controlled (or controlled by corps in cahoots with the government) to weed out independent news sources. DU will cease to exist.

Welcome to the U.S.S.R.'s Pravda.

[lala_rawraw]

32. No thank you, I left the USSR and I don't want to live

in that place again... you have no idea what those people did me and my family and let's consider the type of journos these people are going after:

Intel/National Security
Military
investigative...

Gee, who falls into this category? I am so fucked!!!

[Auntie Bush]

44. Bush* will hire Bill Gates for a couple billion to censor our computers

like they did for the Chinese. We'll never lose the internet...much too profible...we'll just lose our freedom of speech.

[caledesi]

27. Hmmph! * just doesn't want any of the truth to come out and he

is pissed about Rove. If it wasn't for the press.....his boy would be okay. And he wouldn't have the stains of Abramoff, Libby, and all the other crooks and liars.

Sounds so much like Nixon - it's the media.

He is disgusting and must be removed.

edit: typos

[Minnesota_Lib]

28. This just boggles the mind on so many levels.... NT

[BR_Parkway]

29. There's a great way to get the media to stop carrying your water George

threaten them, blame them - they'll get pissed enough to actually start doing some investigations and actually report it.

[Kurovski]

30. Yep. There's that necklace of a burning tire for the press...Bush style.

I hope they'll get pissed instead of scared. they've been scared for too long now.

With the public behind them in wanting to see GEORGE and his cronies tried for all kinds of crap, I hope they do tell George to take a flying leap.

[joeunderdog]

33. This will mobilize the press against him.

He will lose every benefit of the doubt and get every subtle jab wherever possible. Granted, a few reporters will get scared off some stories, but the outrage will find its way into alot of print and television.

[spanone]

34. Does Bush* understand the concept of a Free Press?

This is unbelievable. I guess this means Woodward and Berstein would possibly still be in prison for not divulging Deep Throat. This is very scary territory.

edit: If I were a major White House reporter ala David Gregory, I would assume they are all over my business. SCARY

[Tigress DEM]

dupe deleted

[Tigress DEM]

40. Means he never has to pay to get propoganda published?

God and even now it's hard to get information.

Dear Lord, one well placed lightening bolt and you could get * and Cheney, I know you could. Isn't very Christian of me to ask, but consider the greater good!

[Imagevision]

35. Bush wants to prosecute reporters to keep lid on illegal activities to

discourage more bad news before November elections... silence the messenger, whatever happened to good ole freedom of the press??

[Tigress DEM]

41. Whatever happened to US supporting/doging/demanding Free Press?

WE CAN'T let this slide.

I'm getting sick to my stomach.

[bonito]

36. National security?

How about holding the president accountable to reading what the CIA puts on his desk, in August of 01 he was warned about plans of using airliners to crash into buildings! this little treasonous bastard and his puppeteers are nothing but traitors and are guilty guilty of treason.

[tabasco]

37. A free press is one of the greatest safeguards vs. govt. malfeasance.

No wonder Bush wants to shut it down.

[Tigress DEM]

39. Here is the thing, WHY the leak?

If the government is hiding information about illegal activity IT is performing the press has every right and responsiblity to report the truth through any means necessary. Activity determined illegal by Constitutional standards, not what said government officials deterime afterwards during the cover up.

If the leak is for political purposes, the leaker should be prosecuted under espionage because they are the ones who signed the confidentiallity agreement. The very fact that someone is a reporter implies reason to believe they would - well - report it.

If the government leaked information to lobbyists for political gain, and especially if the lobbyist took that information to a foreign country - yeah, nail them to the wall as spies.

[Imagevision]

42. prosecute reporters as spies, now there's a Bush/Rove cocept to

keep a lid on the truth leaking out, prosecute reporters as spies, they should be awarded the medal of freedom!

[ourbluenation]

43. Get this on the homepage now. K and R

:kick:

[fishwax]

46. oh well. who needs the constitution

:grr::puke:

[autorank]

47. I'm sure MSM will provide him the rope for their hanging.

They ignored:

-- stolen election 2000;
-- calamitous tax cuts;
-- the gutting of EPA and fouling of or earth;
-- the lies that lead to war;
-- the madness of the DoD leadership;
-- the failure of Iraq and the sacrifice of our soldiers;
-- stolen election 2002 (GA)
-- stolen election 2004 (USA_

They will now be trashed for their stupidity. Be sure Congress will pass this.

Nice lockdown - kill off the internet; silence MSM.

Even with that, they can't cover their crimes, they can't stop Fitz. It's a horse race but the
WH is carrying a heavy load - they won't make the final curve.

Bye bye *

But MSM, you have nothing to do with it. You failed and your mission was NOT accomplished.

We'll never forget.

[progressoid]

49. Like NOVAK and MILLER?