Obama v Fox’s James Rosen: Constitutional Dominoes Fall On the Press
First the AP was violated by the Justice Department infringing on their first amendment rights. This week, according to Fox News, it is learned that Fox reporter, James Rosen, has been accused by the FBI of being “at the very least, either as an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator.” That’s marginally better than The Justice Department’s more blunt contention. They are calling Mr. Rosen “a criminal co-conspirator.” The investigation is said to be related to leaks of classified information involving North Korea … back in 2009. Surely it is just coincidental that this ruckus diverts attention from The Lyin’ King’s own criminal transgressions. Isn’t it?
The assault is due to Mr. Rosen’s typical pursuits as a reporter. “Typical” in this sense means that he was merely doing what legions of reporters have done before him. And they were never prosecuted for it. The “leaker” in this case is reportedly a government adviser, Jin-Woo Kim. According to The Washington Post, the case against James Rosen, Chief correspondent for Fox News “…bears striking similarities to a sweeping leaks investigation disclosed last week in which federal investigators obtained records over two months of more than 20 telephone lines assigned to the Associated Press.” What a surprise.
This infringement of first amendment rights has even attracted the anxious attention of the likes of Senator Marco Rubio. Fox News reports Senator Rubio was: “…’very concerned’ about the reports of ‘possible criminal prosecution for doing what appears to be normal news-gathering protected by the First Amendment.
The sort of reporting by James Rosen detailed in the report is the same sort of reporting that helped Mr. Rosen aggressively pursue questions about the Administration’s handling of Benghazi … we expect that … the investigations focus on the leakers within the government — not on media organizations that have First Amendment protections and serve vital function in our democracy’.”Yes. The same sort of normal news-gathering Mr. Rosen employed in his aggressive pursuit about “the Administration’s handling of Benghazi.”