….The free press and freedom from government prior restraint is the check and balance here. We don’t have a “policy” that authorizes the media to publish leaks. We have a constitutional right to do so, and it horrifies me to see an editor who thinks that the First Amendment is some sort of government “policy” and not a carefully worded restriction of government authority. Greenwald is the balance.The existence of a media able to publish whatever information it can get its ink-stained hands on is intended to discourage a secretive government.
If the government doesn’t want people leaking what it’s doing, the solution is actually pretty simple: Don’t be the kind of government that secretly does the kind of things that horrify your own citizens to the point that they’re willing to risk prison and flee to horrible countries to expose to the public what the government is doing. To believe that the lesson from the Snowden affair is more government authority over the media—even after agreeing that Snowden’s fears were legitimate—is simply embarrassing.
Via At The New York Times, a Sudden Appreciation for Media Censorship with Greenwald @ Reason.com.