Monday, March 11, 2013
What if Bradley Manning had precipitated "Pentagon Papers II"? To an "ordinary" blogger?
Bill Keller has a very interesting perspective in
the Monday New York Times, p. A19, “Private Manning’s Confidant”, here. Mr. Keller performs a thought experiment
(sort of following an intellectual model like that of Andrew Sullivan’s
writings) and speculates what would have happened had Pvt. Manniong gone to the
New York Times directly (apparently creating a “Pentagon Papers II” situation)
rather than the “outside man” (with respect to KP. That is), Julian
Assange.
One idea is that Wikileaks might have stayed off the
radar screen, and maybe Assange wouldn’t even be holed up at the Ecuador
Embassy in London. Keller says that the
NYT would have been careful and judicious with the material, but that it
definitely had a First Amendment right to publish it. Manning would have still been prosecuted
however, as he had no “right” to divulge it, although the NYT is not seen as an
“enemy” the way some people see Wikileaks (although most same people see
Assange as on our side after all – just not a military court martial).
There remains a good question, maybe a good idea for
a screenplay elevator (or Metro escalator) pitch. What happens if an “ordinary
amateur blogger” is the contact point?
Without a comprehensive shield law and clarity as to whether it goes
below the established press, it’s a little unclear. There’s a good chance that the courts would
say that the First Amendment protects the amateur, too, but it’s not a
certainty. (He’d need plenty of pro bono
help for the millions the defense would cost.
Swartz found out that even smaller millionaires are no match for the DOJ
when it has an agenda. Billionaires might be OK.) A more
practical question is the blogger’s sense of safety and well-being. As a practical matter, if an ordinary person,
active in video, self-publishing and social media stumbles on a “threat”, he or
she probably would want to go to authorities in most (but not necessarily all)
cases. There is some logic in force to “See
something, say something”. Our (post 9/11) society does have real enemies,
and the existence of enemies does help shape moral thinking of expected
behaviors and even potentialities. (The
nature of the most serious enemies might be changing back to more of a Coid War
pattern, but that’s another discussion.) I contacted authorities several times in the
years following 9/11, and spent some time on the phone with the FBI over one
email that I got. I didn’t get a train
ticket to Philadelphia but thought I was going to for a while.
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