The Intersection Between Justice and Journalism
June 17, 2013
BBC reports on an interesting issue in their article about a leak that prompted the seizure of Associated Press phone records. An AP story about a terror plot that didn’t materialize was said to be based on a leak of classified information. US Attorney General Eric Holder is one of the feature subjects in BBC’s article on the subject, “Eric Holder Says Leak to AP was ‘Very Serious’.”
The phone records were taken in April and May of 2012 to cover the timeframe when AP published an article about a CIA operation in Yemen to disrupt an al-Qaeda plot to blow up a US-bound plane. This was near the anniversary of Osama Bin Laden’s death and the May 2012 story could have embarrassed the US authorities after their announcement to the public that no such attack was planned.
According to the article,
“The news agency called the seizure a ‘massive and unprecedented intrusion’. On Tuesday, Mr Holder said he had removed himself early on from the investigation that led to the records subpoena out of ‘an abundance of caution’, because he wanted to avoid any conflict of interest. He said he had been interviewed by the FBI in June 2012 in connection with the investigation into a possible leak of classified information.”
The attorney general said that this was among the top two or three serious leaks he had seen since he has been a prosecutor since 1976. What an interesting struggle between the powers of justice and the “fourth branch”.
Megan Feil, June 17, 2013
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