Ok, this is it! I will try one more time…
For all of you that are angry about the AP for being upset at the DOJ, I will try to explain one more time, in length, why what the DOJ did could/can/will cripple journalist in the future. That is if the law makers take too long or do nothing at all about a “Press Shield Law”.
The way journalists get stories are by getting leads. Some leads happen over a police scanner or from people writing in about something. Some people come up to a report they have seen on TV and say something to them that perks their ears up.
But in bigger cases it come from an inside source, a “whistleblower”, a “Leak”.
When something this big come in, a journalist investigates, and a reporter looking in too thing should have been enough for the DOJ to know something was not right on their end.
However when a journalist gets one as big as this story, they talk it over, face to face, with their Editor/Producer. They should not/ will not make an easy paper trail. This is hashed out long and hard between them. They keep their Editor/Producer abreast of the investigation. And once the story is ready, as in this case, the Editor/Producer, sometimes the layers, will notify the police detectives, or in this case The Department of Justice, that they are going to print. At this point the DOJ would ask for them not to for a certain amount of time to give them time to tie up loose ends.
Now after it was over and done with, the county, state, or federal agencies would see about getting the records to try and find the leak. It would be expected. But there are protocols that have been down for quite a while for this.
They would let the news agency know they wanted the records, they would draw up a subpoena but it would be taken to a judge and would be argued in front of that judge to make sure that, in this case, the DOJ exhausted all other possibilities. They would argue the size and scope of such a subpoena. Then it would be signed off on and executed.
But this time the DOJ skipped all that and went straight to a grand jury for them to get a wide scope subpoena. With this, they have sent a signal to any and all whistleblowers and would be informants that they go to the Press they will get you through the Press.
This cripples the Press from doing their jobs.. Many people would rather come to a reporter than a cop. This is because of people knowing the stories of journalist going to jail instead of outing a person.
I’m old guard if you will. I would/will go to jail before I give that name. Many are still in that way. Many of us are told in school or from some of the “Old Guard” in the newsroom of the three gates to being a good journalist. One is to not give out info on an informant and going to jail to keep it. Another is to be sued for liable and win ( a gate none want to go through but make sure that if you do, have your ‘I’ s doted and your ‘T’s crossed so you win). The third is being thrown out of a government office for asking questions on something they DON’T want out.
This willingness to put one’s self out there is a big thing. It is why many come to the press. But with this as precedent, many won’t come to the press now. They will be too scared to. And this is what I think was the DOJ’s true motive.
As I said earlier, having a journalist asking questions and investigating should have given a heads up. They should have followed the regulations and protocols, but they did not. They went straight to a Grand Jury. They used a broad brush. They wanted to send a message. The message, however, was not for the Press.
Till the Government passes the “Press Shield Law” many people with information will not come forward. Journalist will have to go to heavier “Cloak and Dagger” type of investigating to get the trust back. In doing so, their Editors/Producers may/will be out of the loop with what the reporter is doing. It will become very dangerous, and journalism is dangerous as it is right now.
Then there is the issue of the public being blinded. With the Press having to build back trust with informants, the public will only see and hear what your Federal, State and local Governments want them to hear and see. If you think the news is biased and one sided now, wait. With the fear of being found out out of the way, there will be some backroom dealing being done that makes what we see now look like peanuts.
But you won’t know about for some time, maybe not at all. As long as the Press is crippled that is.
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