Bush at it again: Criminal charges for reporters who publish leaks

[warrens]

It's like the fucking Energizer bunny with these nazis....

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.

SNIP

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/30/washington/30leak.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

[Warpy]

1. OK, what the hell is it going to take for the news media

to turn on this little two bit dictator? What's it going to take for corporate head offices to rebel against reading press releases from the WH and then yammering about dead blondes every night? What's it going to take for all of us to start tuning them out if they accept this garbage without a fight?

What is it going to take for the country to realize Bush secutity is directly opposed to national security and that this gang is only interested in the former?

[AndyTiedye]

12. This Is Intended to Keep the Media In Line if the Current Measures Fail

[gratuitous]

2. So Robert Novak is about to be arrested?

Or doesn't his leak count because it's one the administration wanted to get out?

[warrens]

3. I assume that's a rhetorical question...

[gratuitous]

6. I guess it works out that way . . .

Although I thought that the principled man of principle that Chimpy likes to portray himself as (just as a matter of principle), he'd believe in the goose-and-gander principle, but apparently that takes second place to his principle of "me -- first, last and always."

[flordehinojos]

he can't help his dictatorial self he has kept it under the lid for a long

time. the pressure in the jar is about to make the lid come off.

[Guaranteed]

4. I don't fucking think so, Skippy.

Those are fightin' words.

[Sinti]

5. The cruel hand of control cinches tighter around the throat

of the Fourth Estate - so what, though, they never took their job seriously anyway. Good reporters will go to foreign news agencies. I have to wonder if this is a prophylactic measure they're taking against something they're planning to do, or just a run of the mill threat to free speech.

Want some real news, read the foreign news.

www.watchingamerica.com

[Frustratedlady]

7. I can't imagine any test case

would stand up in court. He should be more concerned about those in his administration who are privy to classified information (which seems to be most pieces of paperwork processed by this cabal) who are leaking the info, whether on purpose or accidentally...AND, include himself.

If they depend on leaking info to the press to gain support of some of their shenanigans, this new procedure will surely backfire on them. It sounds to me as though they are setting up a scam to lay the groundwork and then sting some reporter they don't like.

Dang! I'm getting SO suspicious in my old age.

[warrens]

9. Add in some of thei other initiatives

And who says the reporters will even get a day in court? Secret tribunal, a cell in a foreign country. These guys will stop at nothing.

[Frustratedlady]

10. Ouch! Good point! n/t

[slide to the left]

8. Wasn't there a Supreme Court case on this

Nixon v. someone?

[warrens]

11. They're talking espionage charges

Espionage???? These psychos have got to go, period.