“…the Obama years are a benchmark for a new level of secrecy and control. It’s created quite a challenging atmosphere for The New York Times, and for some of the best reporters in my newsroom who cover national security issues in Washington. There have been seven of them [i.e prosecutions], and one of them right now threatens my colleague James Risen who has been subpoenaed in one of these cases. Collectively, they have really put a chill on reporting about national security issues in Washington.” ~ Jill Abramson, Executive Editor of the liberal-leaning New York Times
“Sources who want to come forward with important stories that they feel the public needs to know are just scared to death that they’re going to be prosecuted,” she says. “Reporters fear that they will find themselves subpoenaed in this atmosphere.”
“The amount of friction and confrontation involved in just going about what I see as perfectly normal coverage, that in the past wouldn’t have even provoked a discussion, becomes a protracted and somewhat exhausting process,” she says.
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