Wikileaks’
recent disclosure of the CIA’s hacking and surveillance
capabilities highlights a frightening new reality for today’s
journalists. Considering the CIA’s penchant for silencing and
intimidating reporters and editors, journalists will have to overcome
greater odds to protect the public’s right to know.
by
Whitney Webb
Part
2 - The Decades-Long CIA Effort to Undermine Journalists’ Integrity
Journalists
across the board have great reason to be alarmed, chiefly due to the
government’s tendency to mercilessly prosecute journalists who dig
too deep. The CIA has been wiretapping journalists for well over 50
years, with some of the earliest documented and officially confirmed
cases taking place in 1963. Despite the fact that much of this
surveillance was illegal, the CIA – and the U.S. government – has
only expanded its surveillance of both journalists and everyday
citizens in recent decades, particularly with the dismantling of
civil liberties in the post-9/11 world.
In addition,
several prominent journalists have been silenced or imprisoned by the
CIA or other parts of the U.S. power structure over the years. One
very telling example is the case of Barrett Brown, a journalist and
former member of the hacktivist collective Anonymous. Brown at one
point faced a combined sentence of over 100 years just for writing
about and linking to data that had been hacked. Brown was in no way
involved in the hack, but his mere use of the hacked info as a source
led him to be sentenced to over five years in prison.
While
Brown’s politically-motivated prosecution is no doubt concerning,
many other journalists have suffered much worse at the hands of the
CIA and the U.S. government. One particularly notable case is that of
late journalist Gary Webb, who famously exposed the CIA’s
drug-running operation between Nicaraguan U.S.-funded rebels and
crack dealers on the streets of Los Angeles.
Despite the
fact that Webb’s claims have been vindicated in the years since,
Webb was viciously attacked by the CIA and other news publications
for his story, resulting in “one of the most venomous and
factually inane assaults on a professional journalist’s competence
in living memory.”
Webb
committed suicide in 2004 as a result of the vicious attacks against
him, though some have maintained that foul play may have played a
role, considering that early reports indicated that he died of
multiple gunshots to the face. Other well-known journalists like
Michael Hastings and Udo Ulfkotte are also suspected to have died at
the hands of the CIA after exposing the agency’s wrongdoings.
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