Now They’re Mad? Media Hypocrisy in Rosen Case

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In 2013 elite American media outlets are in a fury about the Obama DOJ’s criminal investigation of James Rosen of Fox News under the Espionage Act of 1917. ((Rebecca Shapiro and Jack Mirkinson, “Obama Administration’s Media Surveillance Unleashes Wave of Condemnation,” HuffingtonPost.com, 22 May 2013.))

In contrast, the criminal pursuit of Julian Assange of WikiLeaks for the same “crime” led much of the US journalistic community to shun him. ((Nancy Youssef, “In WikiLeaks Fight, US Journalists Take a Pass,” McClatchyDC.com, 9 Jan. 2011.)), ((Rebecca Shapiro and Jack Mirkinson, “Obama Administration’s Media Surveillance Unleashes Wave of Condemnation,” HuffingtonPost.com, 22 May 2013.))

In 2010 the NY Times Executive Editor said that Assange was not a “kindred spirit” and that his prosecution would not necessarily be an attack on press freedom. ((Jeff Bercovici, “NY Times Editor: WikiLeaks Is ‘Not My Kind of News Organization,’” Forbes.com, 16 Dec. 2010.))

The Espionage Act of 1917 was first used against non-government-employees who had received and disseminated classified information by the W. Bush DOJ. ((Glenn Greenwald, “Attempts to Prosecute WikiLeaks Endanger Press Freedoms,” Salon.com, 14 Dec. 2010.))

Rob Arthur is a former inner-city teacher and public defender. He wrote You Will Die: The Burden of Modern Taboos, which takes an anthropological look at how wrong and debilitating our beliefs are about sex, drugs, death, and more. Read other articles by Robert, or visit Robert's website.