Lieberman Wants New York Times Investigated for Wikileaks Releases
That’s New York Times editor Bill Keller, explaining how his organization checked with the US government before publishing any of the Wikileaks State Department cables, redacted all sensitive names from publication at the recommendation of the government, and basically did everything they could in advance to clear the release with the Administration. Carne Ross, the British Ambassador, “found it extraordinary” that the NYT would clear their releases with the US government.
And now, for their trouble, the Times has put themselves in the crosshairs of Joe Lieberman, the head of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
A leading US senator suggested tonight that the New York Times and other news organisations publishing the US embassy cables being released by WikiLeaks could be investigated for breaking American espionage laws.
Joe Lieberman, the chair of the Senate homeland security committee, told Fox News: “To me the New York Times has committed at least an act of, at best, bad citizenship, but whether they have committed a crime is a matter of discussion for the justice department.”
Lieberman also said that the department of justice should indict Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, under the 1917 Espionage Act and try to extradite him from the UK.
The words “slippery” and “slope” come to mind. As Glenn Greenwald pointed out today, Wikileaks has basically acted as a publisher of these cables. They’ve only released a small portion of the cables themselves, and every time waited for one of its partner newspapers to publish them first. The Wikileaks releases contain, in almost all cases, the redactions suggested by the newspapers. Wikileaks also went to the US government, asking them to help with redactions; in this case they were rebuffed. But nevertheless, politicians in the US want Wikileaks members branded as traitors (whether or not they are US citizens) and arrested for espionage. If you believe that, you have to believe that mainstream journalism outlets, who are doing the exact same thing by distributing the cables after engaging in harm minimization, are just as guilty. And now, Holy Joe Lieberman says they are, in fact.
This is how the death of the First Amendment happens. A government obsessed with secrecy now wants to charge legitimate news-gathering operations with disclosing their secrets. That is nothing but an attack on the freedom of the press. And even if it fails, it will succeed. You don’t think that Bill Keller will think twice the next time he’s confronted with a story revealing sensitive government information?
In a related story, the Guardian has a running liveblog on the Wikileaks releases and the Julian Assange arrest. This is pretty telling:
• The US has welcomed the arrest of Assange. “That sounds like good news to me,” said Robert Gates US defence secretary. “The international manhunt for Julian Assange is over,” NBC television declared.
And the international manhunt for the New York Times begins!
Lieberman Wants New York Times Investigated for Wikileaks Releases
That’s New York Times editor Bill Keller, explaining how his organization checked with the US government before publishing any of the Wikileaks State Department cables, redacted all sensitive names from publication at the recommendation of the government, and basically did everything they could in advance to clear the release with the Administration. Carne Ross, the British Ambassador, “found it extraordinary” that the NYT would clear their releases with the US government.
And now, for their trouble, the Times has put themselves in the crosshairs of Joe Lieberman, the head of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
A leading US senator suggested tonight that the New York Times and other news organisations publishing the US embassy cables being released by WikiLeaks could be investigated for breaking American espionage laws.
Joe Lieberman, the chair of the Senate homeland security committee, told Fox News: “To me the New York Times has committed at least an act of, at best, bad citizenship, but whether they have committed a crime is a matter of discussion for the justice department.”
Lieberman also said that the department of justice should indict Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, under the 1917 Espionage Act and try to extradite him from the UK.
The words “slippery” and “slope” come to mind. As Glenn Greenwald pointed out today, Wikileaks has basically acted as a publisher of these cables. They’ve only released a small portion of the cables themselves, and every time waited for one of its partner newspapers to publish them first. The Wikileaks releases contain, in almost all cases, the redactions suggested by the newspapers. Wikileaks also went to the US government, asking them to help with redactions; in this case they were rebuffed. But nevertheless, politicians in the US want Wikileaks members branded as traitors (whether or not they are US citizens) and arrested for espionage. If you believe that, you have to believe that mainstream journalism outlets, who are doing the exact same thing by distributing the cables after engaging in harm minimization, are just as guilty. And now, Holy Joe Lieberman says they are, in fact.
This is how the death of the First Amendment happens. A government obsessed with secrecy now wants to charge legitimate news-gathering operations with disclosing their secrets. That is nothing but an attack on the freedom of the press. And even if it fails, it will succeed. You don’t think that Bill Keller will think twice the next time he’s confronted with a story revealing sensitive government information?
In a related story, the Guardian has a running liveblog on the Wikileaks releases and the Julian Assange arrest. This is pretty telling:
• The US has welcomed the arrest of Assange. “That sounds like good news to me,” said Robert Gates US defence secretary. “The international manhunt for Julian Assange is over,” NBC television declared.
And the international manhunt for the New York Times begins!
