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Showing Original Post only (View all)“This is most closed, control-freak administration I’ve ever covered.” [View all]
In Obamas war on leaks, reporters fight backLeonard Downie, a former executive editor of The Washington Post, is the Weil family professor of journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. This article is based on his report The Obama Administration and the Press, forthcoming Thursday from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
By Leonard Downie Jr. - WaPo
Published: October 4, 2013
In the Watergate era, the Nixon administrations telephone wiretaps were the biggest concern for journalists and sources worried about government surveillance. That was one of the reasons why Bob Woodward met with FBI official Mark Felt (a.k.a. Deep Throat) in an underground parking garage in Arlington, and why he and Carl Bernstein did much of their reporting by knocking on the front doors of their sources homes. Except for the aborted prosecution of Daniel Ellsberg for the leak of the Pentagon Papers, criminal culpability or pervasive surveillance were not major concerns, especially after Richard Nixon resigned the presidency in 1974.
Not so now. With the passage of the Patriot Act after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a vast expansion of intelligence agencies and their powers, the aggressive exploitation of intrusive digital surveillance capabilities, the excessive classification of public documents and officials sophisticated control of the news medias access to the workings of government, journalists who cover national security are facing vast and unprecedented challenges in their efforts to hold the government accountable to its citizens. They find that government officials are increasingly fearful of talking to them, and they worry that their communications with sources can be monitored at any time.
So what are they doing? Many reporters covering national security and government policy in Washington these days are taking precautions to keep their sources from becoming casualties in the Obama administrations war on leaks. They and their remaining government sources often avoid telephone conversations and e-mail exchanges, arranging furtive one-on-one meetings instead. A few news organizations have even set up separate computer networks and safe rooms for journalists trained in encryption and other ways to thwart surveillance.
I worry now about calling somebody because the contact can be found out through a check of phone records or e-mails, said veteran national security journalist R. Jeffrey Smith of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit accountability news organization. It leaves a digital trail that makes it easier for government to monitor those contacts.
Not so now. With the passage of the Patriot Act after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a vast expansion of intelligence agencies and their powers, the aggressive exploitation of intrusive digital surveillance capabilities, the excessive classification of public documents and officials sophisticated control of the news medias access to the workings of government, journalists who cover national security are facing vast and unprecedented challenges in their efforts to hold the government accountable to its citizens. They find that government officials are increasingly fearful of talking to them, and they worry that their communications with sources can be monitored at any time.
So what are they doing? Many reporters covering national security and government policy in Washington these days are taking precautions to keep their sources from becoming casualties in the Obama administrations war on leaks. They and their remaining government sources often avoid telephone conversations and e-mail exchanges, arranging furtive one-on-one meetings instead. A few news organizations have even set up separate computer networks and safe rooms for journalists trained in encryption and other ways to thwart surveillance.
I worry now about calling somebody because the contact can be found out through a check of phone records or e-mails, said veteran national security journalist R. Jeffrey Smith of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit accountability news organization. It leaves a digital trail that makes it easier for government to monitor those contacts.
And...
Will Obama recognize that all this threatens his often-stated but unfulfilled goal of making government more transparent and accountable? None of the Washington news media veterans I talked to were optimistic.
Whenever Im asked what is the most manipulative and secretive administration Ive covered, I always say its the one in office now, Bob Schieffer, CBS News anchor and chief Washington correspondent, told me. Every administration learns from the previous administration. They become more secretive and put tighter clamps on information. This administration exercises more control than George W. Bushs did, and his before that.
Whenever Im asked what is the most manipulative and secretive administration Ive covered, I always say its the one in office now, Bob Schieffer, CBS News anchor and chief Washington correspondent, told me. Every administration learns from the previous administration. They become more secretive and put tighter clamps on information. This administration exercises more control than George W. Bushs did, and his before that.
More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-obamas-war-on-leaks-reporters-fight-back/2013/10/04/70231e1c-2aeb-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_print.html
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“This is most closed, control-freak administration I’ve ever covered.” [View all]
WillyT
Oct 2013
OP
Inexcusable coming from this President, esp. considering his stance during the election in 2008
Roland99
Oct 2013
#2
"My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government."
progressoid
Oct 2013
#8
Your excerpt violates copyright, since it is longer than four paragraphs. As to its substance, I am
msanthrope
Oct 2013
#12
Sachtleben is a shizzy poster boy, having pleaded guilty to child porn charges
struggle4progress
Oct 2013
#15
Especially when the article in the OP is implying the current admin is worse than Nixon ever was.
baldguy
Oct 2013
#31
Washington Post Buries Reporting Questioning Evidence Justifying Iraq War
struggle4progress
Oct 2013
#48
Downie's behavior a decade ago probably better reflects his current views than whatever he was doing
struggle4progress
Oct 2013
#56
Wash. Post buried report questioning Iran nuke intel, despite mea culpa for doing the same on Iraq
struggle4progress
Oct 2013
#50
I think you need to learn the difference between a "story" and an "opinion piece"
struggle4progress
Oct 2013
#54
Ok, I did read the entire opinion and come to a different conclusion which I hope is permissable.
mountain grammy
Oct 2013
#68
Thanks. Us Grandmas need to stick together. We've seen too much and come too far to go back.
mountain grammy
Oct 2013
#77
Is there a special filter that alerts the BOrG to jump on threads so quickly?
BrotherIvan
Oct 2013
#70
do you have any commentary on the actual article rather than your snide comments
KittyWampus
Oct 2013
#74