Here’s an important column from the New York Times on Mother’s
Day, “When Spies Hack Journalism”.
Foreign enemies can influence public opinion not only
through social media but also by flooding legitimate news outlets.
And the pressure to publish a scoop, if credible, is
enormous.
But in this age of Internet asymmetry, a good question
would be, could a journalist be criminally liable for publishing classified
information that he or she stumbles on.
Even an amateur blogger could face the question. “Accidents” do happen.
NPR takes up that question in a March 2017 story by
Mark Folekenflik , “Could the US prosecute reporters for classified scoops?”
The article discusses the Pentagon Papers (the
Washington Post and New York Times in 1971, and the film “The Post”) as well as
the labor case Bartnicki v. Vopper.
Although the Supreme Court may have been skeptical of claims of irreparable
harm in these cases, the idea of “prior restraint” has never been legally
settled.
Trump, it has been reported, had asked James Comey to
prosecute journalists who publish classified information, before he fired
Comey.
As a practical matter, there are some situations I can
imagine where I would contact authorities and not publish, at least immediately,
in the “see something say something” idea. I have held security clearances (Secret)
before, but not since 1972. There is also, of course, the issue of respecting
confidentiality (PII, and trade secrets) of information learned in the workplace.
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