VIDEO: War, Journalism and Whistleblowers: 15 years after Katharine Gun’s truth telling – Press Conference 1 March 2018
Should Journalists Care If Sources Go Off to Prison?
In view of recent events, ExposeFacts is reposting this article that the Columbia Journalism Review published on Feb. 5, 2016.
By Norman Solomon
Ask yourself this question: Is it sufficient to protect journalists who report classified information while sources go off to prison?
During the last half decade, a growing roster of national-security reporters has withstood government pressure to reveal confidential sources. They’ve done so with the steady support of news organizations and well-heeled groups that work to protect journalists from threats of jail. Yet those media outfits show scant interest in advocating for the whistleblowers who put themselves at risk. If they go to prison, c’est la vie.
Killer Drones in the Empire State
By Norman Solomon
At dusk I stood on a residential street with trim lawns and watched planes approach a runaway along the other side of a chain-link fence. Just a few dozen yards away, a JetBlue airliner landed. Then a United plane followed. But the next aircraft looked different. It was a bit smaller and had no markings or taillights. A propeller whirled at the back. And instead of the high-pitched screech of a jet, the sound was more like… a drone.
A Misleading Moment of Celebration for a New Surveillance Program
The morning after final passage of the USA Freedom Act, while some foes of mass surveillance were celebrating, Thomas Drake sounded decidedly glum. The new law, he told me, is “a new spy program.” It restarts some of the worst aspects of the Patriot Act and further codifies systematic violations of Fourth Amendment […]
Jeffrey Sterling vs. the CIA: An Untold Story of Race and Retribution
A dozen years before his recent sentencing to a 42-month prison term based on a jury’s conclusion that he gave classified information to a New York Times journalist, former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling was in the midst of a protracted and fruitless effort to find someone in Congress willing to look into his accusations about […]
CIA Mission: Destroy the Whistleblower and Perfume the Stench of ‘Operation Merlin’
The leak trial of CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling never got near a smoking gun, but the entire circumstantial case was a smokescreen. Prosecutors were hell-bent on torching the defendant to vindicate Operation Merlin, nine years after a book by James Risen reported that it “may have been one of the most reckless operations in the […]
The Invisible Man: Jeffrey Sterling, CIA Whistleblower
The mass media have suddenly discovered Jeffrey Sterling — after his conviction Monday afternoon as a CIA whistleblower. Sterling’s indictment four years ago received fleeting news coverage that recited the government’s charges. From the outset, the Justice Department portrayed him as bitter and vengeful — with the classic trash-the-whistleblower word “disgruntled” thrown in — […]
CIA Leak Trial: “This Case Is Not About Politics” [sic]
Continuing to deliberate as this week gets underway, the jurors in the CIA leak trial might ponder a notable claim from the government: “This case is not about politics.” The prosecution made that claim a few days ago in closing arguments — begun with a somber quotation from Condoleezza Rice about the crucial need […]
Leak Trial Shows CIA Zeal to Hide Incompetence
Six days of testimony at the trial of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling have proven the agency’s obsession with proclaiming its competence. Many of the two-dozen witnesses from the Central Intelligence Agency conveyed smoldering resentment that a whistleblower or journalist might depict the institution as a bungling outfit unworthy of its middle name. Some […]
Corporate Democrats and Republicans Persecute Whistleblowers
In an interview with The Real News, Norman Solomon tells Paul Jay that when it comes to defending the deep state, there’s really no difference between the two parties.