An Open Letter to Gary Pruitt, President and CEO of the Associated Press

[WilliamPitt]

Dear Mr. Pruitt et al.:

Some of us in the so-called "alternative media" have been yelling and screaming for years about the government's legalized ability to plunder our right to privacy to little avail, while you big dogs in the "mainstream" news media haven't bothered to give a damn in all that time. Too taxing to report accurately and consistently on complicated issues, yeah?

It was Abraham Lincoln who said, "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts." A shame; maybe if you'd been better at bringing the real facts to the people, the people would be better informed, and the elections/legislation that legalized the travails you currently endure could have been avoided.

It's funny to me that the Associated Press is nailing itself to a cross because you've been victimized by the same laws, politicians and tide of history you've either blissfully ignored or gleefully promoted for so many years.

Well, welcome to the future you helped to create. I have neither pity nor sorrow for you, but I am hopeful that your sudden inclusion in the ranks of the "Oh Shit, They Can Do That?" Club will inspire you to truthfully and factually inform the American people about what has been happening to their country right under their, and your, nose.

Sincerely,

William Rivers Pitt

An Itty Bitty Pity Party for the Associated Press
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/16352-an-itty-bitty-pity-party-for-the-associated-press

[Warren Stupidity]

1. While I rec'd this post because it is an excellent point

we really cannot let this issue slide. The 4th amendment has been abolished. It is a very serious issue.

[demwing]

9. The 4th Amendment has not been "abolished"

At worst it's been ignored.

Maybe, as WRP suggests, this will prime the pump of journalistic integrity. Maybe, in a big picture view, this was for the best.

[Warren Stupidity]

20. No it has been effectively abolished.

it has been entirely abolished with respect to anything the administration declares to be "national security" under the war time powers theory of executive authority to do anything.

[The Magistrate]

2. Well Said, Mr. Pitt

[closeupready]

3. AP toadies laughed all the way to the bank

While they were admonishing everyday Americans to just go along to get along.

I'd admonish AP to get over it, and just have another glass of Champagne to help forget all about it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Can I add my name to this Will?

I just hope this starts the necessary conversation

[progressoid]

5. Let's hope they and other media will finally see the light.

[closeupready]

8. They won't. They are in it for the Big Money.

If they report the truth, they get Phil Donahue'ed.

[Dawson Leery]

6. Exactly.

The AP are self made victims.

Worse than is occurring every day.

[bigtree]

7. big rec

[Yo_Mama]

10. This is very true

Those who do not defend the rights of all soon find out that they have lost their own rights.

That's why we are forced to take the AP issue seriously.

I don't actually believe that freedom of the press is limited to even formal news organizations, and I believe that government encroachments on freedom of the press for individuals or small non-traditionals are more of a constitutional violation than this, but it is a good test case and that's that.

[SCVDem]

11. Where the hell were they

When the Patriot Act and all the domestic wiretaps were going on?

Only now do they give a shit since now it's them.

[dotymed]

54. Exactly.

That is the message that I got out of Williams post.
How long (if ever) did they expect to avoid the constitutional shredding caused by the patriot act (so Orwellian).
That is how fascism works. First they start denying the rights of the citizens, then they work their way up the food chain. Until now the MSM has helped them. Now they are being affected and they protest.
I hope they actually attack the validity of the patriot act. They have been a propaganda mouthpiece for too long.
I keep hoping that we will see an actual news show like the HBO "Newsroom" show. It is how journalism is supposed to be....the fourth estate.

[SCVDem]

58. William Randolph Hearst

Shown us the power of yellow journalism from the Spanish American War, "Remember the Maine", to Reefer Madness.

Even the media needs a check and balance, albeit not an overlord.

[WillyT]

12. K & R !!!

[MsPithy]

25. Geeze! They are such duplicitous scoundrels!

The white house isn't in favor of this legislation, they just want to force the republicans to have to vote against it, as well.

[WilliamPitt]

37. What did I miss?

[LuvNewcastle]

14. I'm glad you wrote this, but I don't think it will matter.

As far as this issue goes, I'll be shocked if they look beyond their own noses. In fact, they'll probably just let the story die.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

15. KICKED & RECOMMENDED!! Brilliant!!!

[spanone]

16. k&r...

[caledesi]

17. Very good WP! nt

[malaise]

18. K & R

Excellent letter

[City Lights]

19. Outstanding!

[relayerbob]

21. Don't hold your breath

[kentuck]

22. Amen to that...

They don't care when it's someone else's ox getting gored..

[JustinBulletin]

23. Amen, Amen!

I am sitting in the "Amen Corner" laughing at the AP's come to Jesus moment. Nice letter....short & sweet.

[calimary]

38. Welcome to DU, JustinBulletin!

Glad you're here. It does indeed make one wonder where they were a decade ago when we were trying to get ANY media entity of importance to get all riled up about the war we were being lied into???

[Sheepshank]

24. The momentary discomfort when the AP discovers someone's crapped in their back yard.....

while they are gleefully reporting crap in others' back yards.

Loving the letter

[KamaAina]

42. You can't spell crap without AP

[still_one]

27. Excellent

[Skidmore]

28. While I agree on principle with you, Will, all the corrective legislation in the world

will not matter one whit until the media is no longer bought and sold like a commodity and it steps up and does its job as outlined in the constitution. I trust so little of what I read or hear these days and I frankly do not trust the reporting on this issue as well.

[SunSeeker]

29. K & R

[DonCoquixote]

30. Toss my name in Will

Especially as the AP helped make the climate that made this possible, both by ignoring the loss of freedom, and by making anything less than "we will nuke those (censored) arabs" seem like Obama was really a Al Qeada operative.

[ProSense]

31. The AP

Well, welcome to the future you helped to create. I have neither pity nor sorrow for you, but I am hopeful that your sudden inclusion in the ranks of the "Oh Shit, They Can Do That?" Club will inspire you to truthfully and factually inform the American people about what has been happening to their country right under their, and your, nose.

...and the rest of the corporate media are full of shit.

They had everyone jumping through hoops to defend their likely intentional shit stirring.

Oh, there would be hell to pay if this happened under Bush...

"And agents twice improperly gained access to reporters’ calling records as part of leak investigations. "
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022846263

"Improperly" defined as "based on nothing more than e-mail messages or scribbled requests on Post-it notes"

Now they're outraged about records being subpoenaed, a legal action.

Why wasn't everyone who is outraged now outraged at the launch of the leak investigation?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022846070

[Ganja Ninja]

32. I feel the same way about the plight of the Teabag Party.

When cops were literally cracking skulls at occupy wall street they were cheering but let the IRS ask them to prove their compliance with the 501C law and suddenly freedom has died.

Oh and where were all these free press worry warts for the Wikileaks witch hunt?

[timdog44]

33. Thank you WilliamPitt

The AP has finally dug it self up through the dung heap it let itself settle into to find out that what has happened to Americans is now happening to them, and they are "OUTRAGED". The letter that Mr Pruitt sent to the DOJ could just have well have been sent from the DOJ to him, only vicey versy. What with their "anonymous" tips, that might very well have been a danger to national security. When the fourth estate finally takes a shower to rinse of the shit they have been wallowing in, and start to do the job they should be doing, then maybe I will join the Itty Bitty Pity Party. Maybe if the editors of all these big news media grew some balls, bought the news media they represent so they can do an independent job of reporting they might wake up to a clean, clear conscience. But what is in the offing is the Koch brothers wanting to buy the Tribune Co. Just what we need is another big news media organization owned by the rich and infamous. Although from the stuff I read in that piece of toilet paper the Kochs don't really need to buy it.
I know this is a lot of rambling, but you get my point.

[Liberal In Texas]

34. Nicely Done.

And I totally concur.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

35. Perhaps this latest edition of government overstepping will bring about change.

Now that the big-boys are being spied on they'll start screaming loud enough about such acts by the government to change the rules and give us a free press again.

[DevonRex]

36. You didn't let AP off the hook for what they did. Thank you.

"The blog ThinkProgress burrowed into the question of why the government went after the AP's phone records in the first place, and came up with this:
Last year, the Associated Press reported that an Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) plot had been foiled, thanks to a timely intervention on the part of the United States. The plan, according to the AP's March 2012 story, involved an upgrade of the 'underwear bomb' used in the failed Christmas Day 2011 bomb plot that was meant to take down a passenger airplane in Detroit, MI. Why that drew the attention of the Justice Department, however, is that the CIA was the one who foiled the plot, which the AP report made clear.
AP learned of the plot a week before publishing, but 'agreed to White House and CIA requests not to publish it immediately' due to national security concerns. But, by reporting the CIA's involvement in foiling the plot, they put AQAP on notice that the CIA had a window into their activities. The AP's reporting also led to other stories involving an operative in place within AQAP, and details of the operations he was involved in. That operative, it was feared, would be exposed and targeted by AQAP as retribution for siding with the United States.
So, apparently there are legitimate "national security" issues at stake in this matter, which is why the government was able to issue a secret subpoena over a year ago to track everything - not just the stuff related to the leak, but everything - that more than 100 AP reporters did on both their home and business phones...and that's why the government didn't have to notify the AP of their surveillance until a year later. On Friday, to be exact."
Snip------

AP published a story that specifically stated that the CIA had stopped Al Qaeda Arabian Peninsula from bombing an airplane in Detroit.

That story exposed that the CIA had a source within All Qaeda Arabian Peninsula, and what that source was privy to within the organization. It actually gave "details of the operations he was involved in."

AP effectively destroyed the CIA's ability to foil other terrorist attacks planned by AQAP. It most certainly killed that source within AQAP. I don't know who the reporter is who did this. I have no idea why any reporter WOULD do this.

I do know why someone within the CIA would leak this information to a reporter, though. There are only two reasons - the same as they've always been. One is money. The other is treason for its own sake.

As for the other matter? It is really difficult to muster outrage after all this time. It is the law as we have known it has been for quite some time now. And, as you've so eloquently stated, AP didn't bother reporting what the consequences could be when it could have mattered. AP did knowingly publish this piece even though it would put an end to all intelligence-gathering from AQAP and possibly put us all in danger. They really did that. It's almost impossible for us to get sources within AQ and they got one killed as if he were of no more value than a bug they squashed underfoot. I suppose that's the part that shocks me the most - they didn't care about his life or about the lives he could save.

[calimary]

39. Good points! Offered to another great Will Pitt piece.

Gotta say it makes sense. Good Grief -


That story exposed that the CIA had a source within All Qaeda Arabian Peninsula, and what that source was privy to within the organization. It actually gave "details of the operations he was involved in."

AP effectively destroyed the CIA's ability to foil other terrorist attacks planned by AQAP. It most certainly killed that source within AQAP. I don't know who the reporter is who did this. I have no idea why any reporter WOULD do this.


Ay-yi-yi, Valerie Plame anyone?

[DevonRex]

40. Yes. Valerie Plame all over again. This time by AP

and undoubtedly some Republican-leaning CIA employee who gave AP the story. The ONLY reason to leak that we have a source within AQAP is to eliminate that source. The only reason to do that is to make sure we don't have forewarning about terrorist attacks by this group in the future.

The source was a British citizen, so this has caused problems between our countries and intelligence agencies as well. The effects are far reaching and the consequences are grave.

[Douglas Carpenter]

41. well put!

[KamaAina]

43. Preach it, brother!

[randome]

44. Screw the open letter stuff. Send an email to: [email protected].

There is a reason AP did not publish the letter they received.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022848186#post40

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[randome]

45. Here's the email I sent.

DOJ Acquisition of Reporters' Phone Records

The AP recently said it was informed via letter of a DOJ investigation regarding the leak of classified national security information.

However, in the spirit of full disclosure, I would like to see that letter you publicly referenced to also be published.

I can understand if you need to redact certain portions but the nature of the letter (was it about a grand jury investigation, as rumored?) would better give your readers an opportunity to appraise the subject matter you raised.

I think I speak for many when I say we would like to see the truth no matter where it leads.

Thank you for your time.

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[MannyGoldstein]

46. The "Oh Shit, They Can Do That?" Club - we are all becoming members

Perfect phrase. Great piece. Thanks.

[Auntie Bush]

47. Bravo Will...the recent lack of sleep has done you good.

[ProSense]

48. New York Times, NPR...Wall Street Journal Print Fossil Fuel Talking Points Without Full Disclosure

How New York Times, NPR And Wall Street Journal Print Fossil Fuel Talking Points Without Full Disclosure
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022849564

[Liberal_Dog]

49. Huge K & R

[LovingA2andMI]

50. K&R~~

Great Points!

[toby jo]

51. Just got done telling a very old and very great liberal friend 'where did the press go?'

& pick up this piece - apparently 'to hell'. Ha. Thanks, Will.

[limpyhobbler]

52. better late than never.

[Safetykitten]

53. Love it.

[mountain grammy]

55. Add my name and thanks for putting words to my thoughts.

As I've been ranting about these same points, my husband looks at me like I make no sense at all. I show him Will's letter and he says "oh yeah, of course, now I see what you mean!"

[OnyxCollie]

56. You've held AP's feet to the fire.

Last edited Thu May 16, 2013, 12:06 PM - Edit history (1)

Now what have you done to hold the Obama administration's feet to the fire regarding domestic surveillance?

The AP was asking for this to happen; look at what they were wearing!

[Logical]

57. Great letter. I hope it is noticed by them!! n-t

[randome]

59. 'Open letters' on DU rarely go anywhere but DU.

Send an email to AP instead: [email protected].

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[NCcoast]

60. Hurrumph!

I was thinking the same thing just last night. It's been at least 6 years since we found out the NSA was sweeping up all internet traffic with the help of the telecoms. Did the AP give a damn then? I don't recall that they did.

Too bad for the AP there's no longer a free press to serve as a check on government and corporate power. So stop your complaining and get back to the steno pool.

Then they came for the AP,
and there was no one left to speak for them.