Journalists must stand as sentries

Published 1:24 am Thursday, June 27, 2013

When Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein broke the news that became the Watergate scandal, the Nixon administration immediately branded them as “hostile.” As Time magazine reported in 1974, administration officials even discussed using government agencies to “get” reporters.

But they persevered, and as a result, they (and others who covered the scandal) set a new standard for the role of journalists in a democracy.

“Alert, courageous newsmen standing as sentries against the abuse of power — that is the dominant image most journalists have of their Watergate performance,” Time said in that 1974 report. “On campuses, any newsman remotely part of the action is assured of a hero’s welcome. Applications to journalism schools are at an all-time high, and many of the youngsters say that they want to be investigative reporters.”

That high standard is being challenged — not just by the Obama administration, but by some members of the press, who are questioning the role of reporters in the case of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

On Sunday, David Gregory, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” echoed the administration’s dangerous claims when he challenged reporter Glenn Greenwald for the “crime” of investigative journalism.

“To the extent that you have aided and abetted Snowden,” Gregory asked, “even in his current movements, why shouldn’t you, Mr. Greenwald, be charged with a crime?”

Greenwald was visibly shaken by the allegation.

“I think it’s pretty extraordinary that anybody who would call themselves a journalist would publicly muse about whether or not other journalists should be charged with felonies,” he responded.

Gregory’s charge was not only wrong-headed, it was dangerous, he said.

“If you want to embrace that theory, it means that every investigative journalist in the United States who works with their sources, who receives classified information is a criminal, and it’s precisely those theories and precisely that climate that has become so menacing in the United States,” Greenwald said.

He’s right.

The merits of the Snowden case aside, the media should defend investigative reporting — not side with an administration that is notorious for cracking down on whistleblowers.

In his own defense, Gregory later claimed he never actually accused Greenwald of any criminal actions. But the premise of his question was clear in his words, “you have aided and abetted…”

What’s more, in the follow-up (and in a louder voice), Gregory repeated another dangerous premise of the Obama administration — that some outside agency should get to decide who is and is not a “journalist.”

“The question of who is a journalist may be up to a debate with regard to what you are doing,” Gregory said.

In fact, Greenwald is an award-winning journalist who has (until now) been a darling of the left.

But you don’t have to like Glenn Greenwald. Or Edward Snowden. People can disagree on whether Snowden’s actions were right or wrong.

Criminalizing investigative journalism is dangerous and unacceptable. The duty of the press is, as Time said, to stand sentry to abuses of power.

The press can’t do its duty if it caves to the political pressures of the moment.