Journalist Broke The Law By Getting a Story?

The WaPo is reporting that Fox News Reporter James Rosen has been classified as a "aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator" by the DOJ for reporting on what I assume was classified information leaked to him.

The court documents don’t name Rosen, but his identity was confirmed by several officials, and he is the author of the article at the center of the investigation. Rosen and a spokeswoman for Fox News did not return phone and e-mail messages seeking comment. Reyes wrote that there was evidence Rosen had broken the law, “at the very least, either as an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator.” That fact distinguishes his case from the probe of the AP, in which the news organization is not the likely target.

Wow. Talk about a chilling effect. If the government is now taking the position that a journalist has criminal liability for reporting on classified information, that's a new level of scary. If this is a legitimate position by the DOJ, then that's going to stop a whole lot of reporting. The really scary thing is that the government just has to make an accusation - not a case. All this happens without the journalist knowing.

 

This cannot be right.