Two months of work and personal phone records at APFrom RTAmericaTexas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. This unprecedented invasion of privacy involving confidential information is a blatant violation of basic rights afforded by the 1st Amendment" said Radio Television Digital News Association chairman Vincent Duffy. The records obtained by the Justice Department listed outgoing calls for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters for general AP office numbers in New York Washington and Hartford Conn. as well as for the main number of the AP in the House of Representatives press gallery according to attorneys for the AP.
This action is unwarranted and absolutely strikes at the heart of the press freedoms we cherishin the United States" said the RTDNAs Duffy.
These critical freedoms are protected by both the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights and have clearly been thrust aside by the federal government through this action" Duffy said.
On Monday news broke that the Department of Justice secretly obtained two months of phone records from journalists at the Associated Press. Between the months of April and May of last year nearly 100 employees of the AP were spied on in an attempt to find the source of leaked information that some say threatened national security.
Now the Obama Administration claims to have nothing to do with the eavesdropping and has reiterated its efforts to be the most transparent administration.
Marcy Wheeler a reporter with EmptyWheel.net gives us her takeon what this means for journalism in America.
RTDNA is working closely with other media groups to seek answers as to why the Justice Department took such a serious and in our judgment blatantly unconstitutional action toward an unknown end. Our efforts are directed toward reversing this assault on these basic and important freedoms.
From RTAmerica
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. This unprecedented invasion of privacy involving confidential information is a blatant violation of basic rights afforded by the 1st Amendment" said Radio Television Digital News Association chairman Vincent Duffy. The records obtained by the Justice Department listed outgoing calls for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters for general AP office numbers in New York Washington and Hartford Conn. as well as for the main number of the AP in the House of Representatives press gallery according to attorneys for the AP.
This action is unwarranted and absolutely strikes at the heart of the press freedoms we cherish in the United States" said the RTDNAs Duffy.
These critical freedoms are protected by both the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights and have clearly been thrust aside by the federal government through this action" Duffy said.
On Monday news broke that the Department of Justice secretly obtained two months of phone records from journalists at the Associated Press. Between the months of April and May of last year nearly 100 employees of the AP were spied on in an attempt to find the source of leaked information that some say threatened national security.
Now the Obama Administration claims to have nothing to do with the eavesdropping and has reiterated its efforts to be the most transparent administration.
Marcy Wheeler a reporter with EmptyWheel.net gives us her take on what this means for journalism in America.
RTDNA is working closely with other media groups to seek answers as to why the Justice Department took such a serious and in our judgment blatantly unconstitutional action toward an unknown end. Our efforts are directed toward reversing this assault on these basic and important freedoms.
