A limited amount of outrage followed the initial reports that Obama's Justice Department had seized the phone records of Associated Press reporters, to later find out that it included 21 phone lines, at five offices, where 100 reporters worked.
Liberal, conservative and outlets ranging in between, all exploded in outrage when the news broke that Fox News reporter, James Rosen, was tracked by the DOJ, his personal email obtained by the DOJ, and in the warrant 30 different phone lines were included and Rosen was named "an aider, and abettor, and / or co-conspirator” in violating the Espionage Act," for doing nothing more than every journalist does, which is report the news by getting sources to talk to them.
Just today, reports show that Rosen's parents' phone was included in the invasion of privacy by Obama's DOJ.
A screen shot of Huffington Post's front page, May 22, 2013, captures the essence of what the White House is facing over this scandal:
Starting with the New York Times' editorial board, headline "Another Chilling Leak Investigation,"which begins with "With the decision to label a Fox News television reporter a possible “co-conspirator” in a criminal investigation of a news leak, the Obama administration has moved beyond protecting government secrets to threatening fundamental freedoms of the press to gather news."
James C. Goodale, who represented The New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case, takes to the opinion pages of the New York Times to declare "Only Nixon Harmed a Free Press More."
The search warrant filed to investigate the Fox News reporter James Rosen proved as many had suspected: President Obama wants to make it a crime for a reporter to talk to a leaker. It is a further example of how President Obama will surely pass President Richard Nixon as the worst president ever on issues of national security and press freedom.
Washington Post's Dana Milbank headlines with "In AP, Rosen investigations, government makes criminals of reporters," then proceeds to explain the seriousness of this scandal over the rest that are rocking the Obama administration at the moment.
To treat a reporter as a criminal for doing his job — seeking out information the government doesn’t want made public — deprives Americans of the First Amendment freedom on which all other constitutional rights are based. Guns? Privacy? Due process? Equal protection? If you can’t speak out, you can’t defend those rights, either.
Beyond that, the administration’s actions shatter the president’s credibility and discourage allies who would otherwise defend the administration against bogus accusations such as those involving the Benghazi “talking points.” If the administration is spying on reporters and accusing them of criminality just for asking questions — well, who knows what else this crowd is capable of doing?
Washington Post's Eugene Robinson comes down heavily on the Obama administration.
In other words, since there is no law that makes publishing this classified information illegal, the Justice Department claims that obtaining the information was a violation of the Espionage Act.
Rosen has not been charged. Every investigative reporter, however, has been put on notice.
The Daily Beast's Nick Gillespie addresses Obama's attempt at using "Shield Law"support in order to bypass the very real criticisms and outrage that are being leveled at him, his administration and his DOJ:
The First Amendment is all the shield law any American needs, especially when it’s supplemented by the protections offered by the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. What we really need is a president who lives by the Constitution more than he nods to it.
That is simply the tip of the iceberg on the liberal media outrage over the Obama administration's attack on the free press in it's "war on journalism."
More surprising is Obama's base supporters, the far left, progressive, liberal blog sites that have absolutely no love for Fox News, yet are uniting with conservatives in shredding the Obama administration and the DOJ for this unprecedented level of disdain for America's free press.
One example is FireDogLake (FDL), which writes "The attack by the Obama Administration on basic journalistic practices could have long lasting impact on the American media, particularly the labeling of a journalist talking to a source of information as “co-conspiracy” in a crime. Even more astounding is the hyper-vigilance being shown against minor leaks of information to journalists when compared to the Justice Department’s blase attitude towards crime on Wall Street which brought actual instability to the country in 2008 or, rather, is a genuine threat to National Security.
Not to mention the White House leaks information to the press constantly. Was Isikoff a co-conspirator? Or is this attack on journalism about something else?"
Glenn Greenwald:
This newfound theory of the Obama DOJ - that a journalist can be guilty of crimes for "soliciting" the disclosure of classified information - is a means for circumventing those safeguards and criminalizing the act of investigative journalism itself. These latest revelations show that this is not just a theory but one put into practice, as the Obama DOJ submitted court documents accusing a journalist of committing crimes by doing this.Other liberal journalists' outraged Twitter reactions can be seen at this post, where I embedded them.
The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza actually changed his Twitter profile so it now reads "Washington Correspondent for The New Yorker, Contributor for CNN, aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator."
I seriously doubt when Barack Obama promised to "unite" the country, he meant unite them all against him, yet that is what this attack against free press has done.
Related:
Video- Obama's DOJ Goes After Reporter's Parents!!!
DOJ Out Of Control Attacking Freedom Of Press!! Targeted 30 WH, Fox News Reporters' Phone Records
Was CBS News Reporter Sharyl Attkisson Targeted By Obama's DOJ Too?
AP Phone Record Seizure Scandal: DOJ Subpoena Covered Phone Lines Where 100 Reporters Worked
Obama's DOJ Tracks Reporters Movements, Obtains Personal Emails; Journalists Unite Against DOJ