Press freedom is an essential part of liberty,
and without liberty there is no security.
It’s good to see the CEO of AP speaking up about this,
after Julian Assange, Bruce Schneier, and Benjamin Franklin.

Colleen Slevin wrote for AP yesterday,

AP CEO: Press freedom v. security a ‘false choice’,

Governments that try to force citizens to decide between a free
press and national security create a “false choice” that weakens
democracy, and journalists must fight increasing government
overreach that has had a chilling effect on efforts to hold leaders
accountable, the president and CEO of The Associated Press said
Saturday.

Gary Pruitt told the 69th General Assembly of the Inter American
Press Association that the U.S. Justice Department’s secret seizure
of records of thousands of telephone calls to and from AP reporters
in 2012 is one of the most blatant violations of the First Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution the 167-year-old news cooperative has ever
encountered.

The Justice Department action involving the AP resonated far beyond
the U.S., including Continue reading →