FREE PRESS ESSENTIAL TO DEMOCRACY

I know that after yesterday's tragedy in Paris, where cartoonists were gunned down by muslim extremists, we're all more aware than ever of the importance of a free press. Right? Wrong! Right here on our shores, the government is fighting to put NY Times reporter James Risen on the stand to reveal his secret sources. James wrote a book according to a NY Times reporter interviewed here, the government is "looking at this chapter nine, where Risen writes in his book about this botched CIA operation in Iran where the CIA gave nuclear schematics to Iran that they had sort of—that they had introduced flaws, design flaws, to in hopes of setting back the nuclear program, but Jim’s book reveals that these flaws were easily spottable and that Iran probably just worked right around them, so we may have actually even helped advance the nuclear program."

So the US wants to cover up it's backfired, sneaky programs which have helped, rather than hurt, Iran's development of nukes and squash a free press.

JAMES RISEN: "Without aggressive investigative reporting, we can’t really have a democracy, because the only real oversight for the government is an independent and aggressive press. And I think that’s what the government really fears more than anything else, is an aggressive investigative reporting in which we shine a light on what’s going on inside the government. And we can’t do that without maintaining the confidentiality of sources.

By launching criminal investigations of stories that are outside the mainstream coverage, they are trying to, in effect, build a pathway on which journalism can be conducted: Stay on the interstate highway of conventional wisdom with your journalism, and you will have no problems; try to get off and challenge basic assumptions, and you will face punishment. Journalists have no choice but to fight back, because if they don’t, they will become irrelevant."

Democracy Now!'s Juan Gonzalez goes on to say:

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Matt, what about this Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde personality of the Obama administration, on the one hand saying that they’re not going to jail journalists, but on the other hand a constant crackdown on whistleblowers—a key ingredient for any investigative journalist—and their attempts to go after the sources of reporters?

A fascinating segment on how a president who campaigned on greater transparency than the Bush administration has been less transparent and has gone after leakers and journalists in an attempt to shroud the truth and cover up their blunders.

I know that after yesterday's tragedy in Paris, where cartoonists were gunned down by muslim extremists, we're all more aware than ever of the importance of a free press. Right? Wrong! Right here on our shores, the government is fighting to put NY Times reporter James Risen on the stand to reveal his secret sources. James wrote a book according to a NY Times reporter interviewed here, the government is "looking at this chapter nine, where Risen writes in his book about this botched CIA operation in Iran where the CIA gave nuclear schematics to Iran that they had sort of—that they had introduced flaws, design flaws, to in hopes of setting back the nuclear program, but Jim’s book reveals that these flaws were easily spottable and that Iran probably just worked right around them, so we may have actually even helped advance the nuclear program."

So the US wants to cover up it's backfired, sneaky programs which have helped, rather than hurt, Iran's development of nukes and squash a free press.

JAMES RISEN: "Without aggressive investigative reporting, we can’t really have a democracy, because the only real oversight for the government is an independent and aggressive press. And I think that’s what the government really fears more than anything else, is an aggressive investigative reporting in which we shine a light on what’s going on inside the government. And we can’t do that without maintaining the confidentiality of sources.

By launching criminal investigations of stories that are outside the mainstream coverage, they are trying to, in effect, build a pathway on which journalism can be conducted: Stay on the interstate highway of conventional wisdom with your journalism, and you will have no problems; try to get off and challenge basic assumptions, and you will face punishment. Journalists have no choice but to fight back, because if they don’t, they will become irrelevant."

Democracy Now!'s Juan Gonzalez goes on to say:

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Matt, what about this Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde personality of the Obama administration, on the one hand saying that they’re not going to jail journalists, but on the other hand a constant crackdown on whistleblowers—a key ingredient for any investigative journalist—and their attempts to go after the sources of reporters?

A fascinating segment on how a president who campaigned on greater transparency than the Bush administration has been less transparent and has gone after leakers and journalists in an attempt to shroud the truth and cover up their blunders.