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Originally Posted by Rekna
I don't think the first amendment should protect these reporters. A reporters job is to report the news not aid and abet a crime. These reporters by taking (even though it was given) confidential information commited a crime. By publishing it they furthered that crime. The first ammendment does not give a reporter the right to participate in a crime and not get in trouble.
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Your understanding of the law is flawed.
They committed no crime. If you have a government secret and you come and blab it to me, it is YOU who are the criminal. I'm not responsible for what YOU say.
Furthermore, once a reporter (or anyone else for that matter) has information, the government CANNOT stop them from publishing it. That's called prior restraint and it's illegal as hell.
And by refusing to give up her source, she's protecting the ability of journalists across the country to get the news out.
But I will say that it's rather frightening that so many people think as you do, that receiving information and passing it on is a crime. An ignorance of such a basic tennet of our democracy indicates the very real possibility that such freedoms WILL be removed some day and the people will allow to happen.