Our government's silent war on press freedom

Over the past 14 years, the war on press freedom has been quietly escalating in the United States. This emerging conflict is fueled by increased unchecked government surveillance, post-truth intolerance of any criticism of media coverage, and prosecution of media sources and journalists. A publisher supported by politicians on both sides of the political spectrum. The U.S. campaign to quash leaks, which began with whistleblower prosecutions a decade ago, has expanded to the criminalization of standard investigative reporting. Although the United States still claims to be the global standard-bearer for free speech and press freedom, recent rifts expose impending disaster.

Aggressive national security investigations and two draconian laws place journalists and media workers at serious risk of increased criminal investigation and prosecution. We have seen these risks materialize in the cases of Timothy Burke, Julian Assange and Katherine Herridge. These three women may not seem to belong to the same category at first glance, but they may not all seem like “real journalists” to many readers. ” Whether or not you personally approve of their actions, all three have been punished for their journalistic work, and the laws and institutions used to target them are no exception to the mainstream media You will not be discriminated against based on what you deem to be legitimate. The precedents set by these lawsuits are completely unacceptable, such as cultivating sources while protecting anonymity and attempting to release information in the public interest that governments and other powerful forces seek to control. It will apply in the future to all persons engaged in normative journalistic activities.

Investigative journalist and media consultant Timothy Burke was indicted last month on charges of illegally obtaining information available online by publicly releasing dummy login credentials provided by anonymous sources. Ta. According to the Tampa Bay Times, Burke gained access to a number of “secured commercial broadcast video streams,” including one in October 2022 where Tucker Carlson recorded videos from rapper Yeah (ex-Kanye West). It also appears to have included behind-the-scenes video content from Fox News' infamous interview. ). Mr. Burke's lawyers have maintained that no illegal hacking occurred and have targeted Mr. Burke after computer equipment and other electronic devices were seized in a raid on his home. The investigation has drawn condemnation from dozens of press freedom organizations, including us. The charges against Mr. Burke center on alleged violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which we view as overly broad and fatally vague.

The CFAA was first passed in the 1980s during a hacking hysteria fueled by pop culture as well as the early computer age. President Ronald Reagan reportedly became concerned about hacking after watching the movie “War Games,” about a teenager who hacked the U.S. air defense system and nearly triggered a nuclear war. . Congress amended the law multiple times over the next several years, including the Patriot Act of 2001, which made it easier for prosecutors to charge felonies and doubled the penalties under the law. Even with these changes, the CFAA has not kept up with technological advances and remains a very broad organization, which has led to hacktivists like Aaron Schwartz, who committed suicide after years of government investigation, and It has become the government's weapon of choice to punish whistleblowers. Chelsea Manning.

Julian Assange, the legendary, if not infamous, founder of WikiLeaks, is currently facing the final stages of an extradition fight that has kept him in British custody for nearly five years. If he is returned to the United States, he could be charged under both the CFAA and the equally problematic Espionage Act.

The Espionage Act was originally passed in 1917 during the patriotic fervor and social upheaval caused by America's entry into World War I. Although its original purpose was to prosecute German spies, the law was quickly used to suppress dissent and has been criticized by many. Legal experts consider it poorly drafted, too broad, and vague. The Espionage Act had chills on journalists, publishers, and whistleblowers throughout the Cold War, most notably in the case of Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. The case against Ellsberg collapsed, largely due to extreme (and illegal) misconduct by the Nixon administration. However, after 40 years of dormancy, the law was enacted with new vigor. President Barack Obama's administration prosecuted twice as many Espionage Act cases as all previous administrations combined. These included the indictments of NSA whistleblowers Thomas Drake and Edward Snowden, US Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning, and CIA whistleblowers Jeffrey Sterling and John Kiriakou. Ta. Many of the Espionage Act cases of the time also entrapd reporters, resulting in correspondents being subpoenaed, as in the Sterling case, or reporters actually being arrested, as in the case of former State Department official Stephen Kim. He was labeled as a co-conspirator.

The Trump administration has further normalized Espionage Act prosecutions to suppress media disclosure, suing FBI whistleblower Terry Albury and NSA whistleblower Reality Winner, and filing a dormant lawsuit against drone whistleblower Daniel Hale. The lawsuit was revived. Trump officials will also indict Assange under the Espionage Act for actions that national security reporters routinely engage in, including releasing classified information, protecting the identities of sources, and using encryption. This took the law one step further. Assange's indictment has since been denounced as a threat to press freedom by NGOs, media outlets, academics and parliamentarians.

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Now, let's talk about Katherine Herridge. Herridge is a prominent investigative journalist, but she was charged with contempt of court for refusing to disclose sources in a Privacy Act case brought by Chinese-American scientist Yangping Chen. Mr. Chen had been the target of an FBI counterintelligence investigation for years, which was abandoned in 2016. without being charged. Mr. Herridge, who was working for Fox News at the time, reported several articles about the investigation, including information that Mr. Chen alleges was provided to Mr. Herridge by the federal government in violation of privacy laws. Herridge had moved to CBS News when she was called to reveal her sources in the Chen case. CBS initially supported Herridge's position, but she was fired by the network last month. Initial reports suggested that CBS had seized or kept Ms. Herridge's files, computers, and records, including information about confidential sources, but the network denied that and later released Ms. Herridge's files, computers, and records. Their belongings have reportedly been returned.

The application of the CFAA and the Espionage Act against journalists, coupled with contempt orders aimed at forcing reporters to disclose confidential sources, created a perfect storm of anti-press freedom activity in the United States. Byzantine laws used to selectively prosecute the most controversial media sources and whistleblowers are blinding Americans to the extent to which their fundamental right to freedom of the press is being curtailed. Although there are small protests in response to individual incidents, most Americans, regardless of their political affiliation or ideological views, do not understand the scale of this attack on press freedom.