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> A journalist who commits, or encourages or facilitates others to commit, crimes in the pursuit of their goals is still a criminal. This is exactly what the p
by k1m 6y ago
> A journalist who commits, or encourages or facilitates others to commit, crimes in the pursuit of their goals is still a criminal.
This is exactly what the prosecution tried to say, but it's not that easy. Did you read the testimony of investigative journalist Nicky Hager:
'[Prosecutor] Lewis: You have as a journalist merely been the passive recipient of official information. Presumably you have never done anything criminal to obtain government information?
'Hager: You said “passive”. That is not the way we work. Journalists not only actively work our sources. We go out and find our sources. The information might come in documents. It might come on a memory stick. In most cases our sources are breaking the law. Our duty is to help protect them from being caught. We actively help them cover their backs sometimes.'
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/09/your-man-in-the-public-gallery-assange-hearing-day-13/ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/09/your-man-in-...
- srtjstjsj 6y agoHager is admitting to criminal activity, not saying it's not criminal.
- dangoor 6y agoThe source that gave the material to the journalist is the one breaking the law, not the journalist who is given and disseminates the information.
- falcolas 6y agoProtecting the source is aiding a criminal, which is also a crime. And thus, in the interest of checks and balances, journalists should be shielded from prosecution.
- croes 6y agoYou just criminalized Whistelblowers. If it's a crime to make a crime public, than the definition of crime is all wrong.
- falcolas 6y agoPerhaps that's why whistleblowers are given so many special protections. If what they did was perfectly legal, a lot of the extra protections wouldn't be necessary. If you're in the CIA, for example, you can't blow the whistle legally, at all. You'll always be breaking some law (security clearance, most often).