Snowden anniversary a reminder of the need to protect whistleblowers and journalists
AP Photo/George Brich
Whistleblowers are essential to a free and unfettered press.
Whistleblowers play a critical role in informing the public and holding the government to account.
Sources who act out of conscience to leak information to the press further our democracy. Whistleblowers like Daniel Ellsberg, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden, have exposed some of our government’s gravest abuses.
Unfortunately, whistleblowers are often prosecuted and jailed. That’s wrong. Whistleblowers and the journalists they work with should be celebrated, not punished.
Featured Items
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The NSA Leaks Are Forcing More Transparency on Both Companies and The Government
UPDATE: CNET is reporting that the NSA has admitted it can listen to domestic US phone calls without a court order in a classified briefing on Thursday. Though it's unclear if Nadler's statement was misinterpreted. Thanks to the leaks from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, we have learned an incredible amount …
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Leaks Are Vital For Democracy and the NSA Revelations Are the Quintessential Example Why
When looking back at the past decade, it’s hard to think of a constitutional scandal that wasn’t first brought to the public’s attention by a leak to the press. Bush’s NSA warrantless wiretapping program, black site prisons, torture, CIA drone strikes, and offensive cyberattacks are just some of the examples. …
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Manning Judge Rules Crowd-Funded Stenographers Should Be Given Permanent Court Access
As Kevin Gosztola reported yesterday, Bradley Manningâs defense lawyer David Coombs brought up our crowd-funded stenographers in court during the morning session of Manning's trial, and weâre happy to say, once and for all, that the judge ruled the government must make permanent accomodations for the stenographers. The stenographers …
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Bradley Manning’s Defense Supports Crowd-Funded Stenographers’ Presence at Trial
This article is cross-posted from FireDogLake. The defense for Pfc. Bradley Manning indicated in a military court that ensuring crowd-funded stenographers had access to create an unofficial transcript of the trial, which would be made available to media outlets around the world, was something they supported. “We believe that …
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Searching for an Enemy in the Case of Bradley Manning
Tuesday marked the second day of the court martial of Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence analyst facing decades in prison for leaking over 700,000 government documents to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. The morning saw the prosecution launch into the meat of their argument by calling numerous forensic experts as well …
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Despite Government Obstacles, Publicly-Funded Stenographers Will Transcribe the Bradley Manning Trial
UPDATE: The transcript from day one of the Bradley Manning trial has been posted and can be found here. In the last month, the Freedom of the Press Foundation has been engaged in a whirlwind fundraising campaign to raise money to have professional stenographers provide daily transcripts of the …
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Coalition of Twenty Major Media Organizations Ask Manning Judge To Provide Court Access to Public Stenographer
UPDATE: We've recieved word that the judge has ruled that the professional court stenographer CAN transcribe the trial from the media room using a stenography machine. This is great news. However, we are still without press passes, and the military media desk has yet to respond to our request to …
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Crowd-funded Stenographers Denied Press Passes to the Bradley Manning Court Martial
About a month ago, Freedom of the Press Foundation launched a campaign to crowd-fund a court stenographer to provide transcripts of the unclassified portions of the Bradley Manning court martial, given that the military refuses to release transcripts of their own. On Thursday, we learned that all three of our …
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Virtually Everything the Government Did to WikiLeaks is Now Being Done to Mainstream US Reporters
At Freedom of the Press Foundation, we believe it’s vital to defend WikiLeaks’ right to gather and publish classified information in the public interest, just as it’s vital to protect the rights of Associated Press and Fox News to do the same. Under the law, the AP, Fox News, and …
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A Conspiracy To Commit Journalism: The Justice Dept's Dangerous New Argument Threatens Basic Reporting
Last night, the Washington Post reported on a little known leak case involving former State Department official Stephen Kim. In an alarming new extreme, the Justice Department and FBI argue there's "probable cause to believe" Fox News reporter James Rosen "has committed or is committing a violation of [the Espionage …
