It’s called the chilling effect.
“Some longtime trusted sources have become nervous and anxious about talking with us,” AP president and chief executive Gary Pruitt said in a speech to the National Press Club.
“In some cases, government employees we once checked in with regularly will no longer speak to us by phone. Others are reluctant to meet in person … This chilling effect on newsgathering is not just limited to AP.
“Journalists from other news organizations have personally told me that it has intimidated both official and nonofficial sources from speaking to them as well.”
Pruitt spoke one month after the US news agency revealed that it had been notified after the fact that the US Justice Department had secret subpoenas of two months of phone records from its news operations.
Journalism, decomposed. Or if you’re the secretive, spy-happy Obama administration, mission accomplished.
By the way, don’t look now but the Obama regime isn’t becoming any less spy-happy. It isn’t cowed at all by the current scandals. In fact, it is stepping up its surveillance of Americans.
RALEIGH – Tourists on the North Carolina Ferry System may be surprised to learn this summer that they will have their personal information recorded by the government as they board ferries in the state.
During a recent ferry ride on the coast, a ferry official in a yellow shirt was walking up and down the long line of cars asking for people’s names before they boarded the ferry. He also recorded the license numbers of cars boarding the ferry.
Access to the license plate numbers would reveal not only the address of the owner, but the driving and criminal history, full name, Social Security number for states that participate in the federal Real ID program, birth date, and other private information.
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When asked why the information was necessary, the ferry worker said that it was for “Homeland Security” but did not elaborate on any other details.
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