{"id":45716,"date":"2014-08-11T12:00:21","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=45716"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:30:46","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:30:46","slug":"im-not-a-spy-reporters-reveal-surveillance-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/08\/im-not-a-spy-reporters-reveal-surveillance-fears\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I’m Not a Spy:’ Reporters Reveal Surveillance Fears"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

A rally against mass surveillance last year. Photo: Rena Schild \/ Shutterstock.com<\/p><\/div>\n

U.S. government surveillance programs are scaring away sources, making journalists feel like criminals and spies, and impacting the public\u2019s access to quality news reporting, according to a new report released today [28 Jul 2014].<\/p>\n

The 130-page With Liberty to Monitor All<\/em><\/a> report by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union was based on 92 interviews with journalists, lawyers, and former and current U.S. government officials, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

Within the context of recent revelations of widespread surveillance by US authorities, including by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden<\/a>, the report seeks to document how government spying has affected not just the work of journalists and lawyers, but also the subsequent impact on the public\u2019s access to information.<\/p>\n

While far from scientific, the report\u2019s recurring theme is one of growing difficulty for journalists trying to cultivate and protect sources, and develop stories that involve sensitive or controversial government issues. Of the 46 journalists interviewed, many spoke of the time-consuming and arduous measures they have had to go to in recent times to ensure their work and their sources were not compromised \u2013 interestingly, much of it involved a delicate balance between using special technology<\/a>, such as encryption, and abandoning technology altogether.<\/p>\n

\u201cJournalists told us that officials are substantially less willing to be in contact with the press, even with regard to unclassified matters or personal opinions, than they were even a few years ago,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn turn, journalists increasingly feel the need to adopt elaborate steps to protect sources and information, and eliminate any digital trail of their investigations\u2014from using high-end encryption, to resorting to burner phones [discarded after a short period of time], to abandoning all online communication and trying exclusively to meet sources in person.\u201d<\/p>\n

The journalists also said the additional security measures were not only a burden that made reporting take longer, but also sometimes threatened to scare sources away.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn many instances, for encryption to work, both the journalist and the source must have some facility with the same encryption tool. Some journalists expressed doubts about their own ability to master encryption and related technologies,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOthers noted that many would-be sources lack the technical savvy to approach journalists safely, and even that using encrypted methods of communication with typical sources\u2014as opposed to sources who already prefer to use encryption\u2014might \u2018spook\u2019 them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to feel like they\u2019re doing something wrong,\u201d said investigative journalist Jane Mayer of The New Yorker<\/em>, in her interview for the report. \u201cYour source has to be really committed [to bother with advanced security measures].\u201d<\/p>\n

Most journalists also expressed doubts about how effective their security measures were in the first place. Some did not believe encryption offered ironclad protection, and many indicated that journalists were simply not equipped or trained to adequately cover their tracks against the reach of authorities like the NSA or other intelligence services.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want the government to force me to act like a spy. I\u2019m not a spy; I\u2019m a journalist,\u201d Washington Post<\/em> reporter Adam Goldman told the report\u2019s authors. \u201cWhat are we supposed to do? Use multiple burners? No email? Dead drops? I don\u2019t want to do my job that way. You can\u2019t be a journalist and do your job that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Government officials interviewed countered journalists\u2019 concerns that increased surveillance was making it more difficult to work or receive material from whistleblowers, pointing to stories like the NSA revelations from Edward Snowden as proof that a culture of leaking is alive and well.<\/p>\n

But the report details a number of deterrents put in place by the government to discourage leaks, including over-classification of documents, limiting officials\u2019 contact with media, and the \u201cInsider Threat Program<\/a>\u201d which calls on government employees to be alert to colleagues who may be leaking state secrets.<\/p>\n

It also points out that the risk of prosecution for whistleblowers has never been higher.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not lost on us, or on our sources, that there have been eight criminal cases against sources [under the current administration] versus three before [under all previous administrations combined],\u201d said Charlie Savage, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the report argues that increased surveillance and government crackdown on officials speaking with and leaking to media will have a negative impact on \u201cnews coverage, public accountability, and the quality of democratic debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe US government has an obligation to defend national security, yet many of its surveillance practices go well beyond what may be justified as necessary and proportionate to that aim. Instead, these practices are undermining fundamental rights and risk changing the nature of US democracy itself,\u201d the report said. \u201cThe net result is a less informed public.\u201d<\/p>\n

__________________________<\/p>\n

Hamish Boland-Rudder is <\/em>ICIJ\u2019s online editor. He spent two years running the breaking news website for <\/em>The Canberra Times<\/a> in Australia. He also spent time as a reporter writing for <\/em>The Canberra Times, The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>, The Age<\/a> (Melbourne), <\/em>The Korea Herald<\/a>, and various other publications.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 icij.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. government surveillance programs are scaring away sources, making journalists feel like criminals and spies, and impacting the public\u2019s access to quality news reporting, according to a new report released today [28 Jul 2014].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-whistleblowing-surveillance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45716\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}