Journalistic Truth & Source Protection
Posted on | December 30, 2009 | 4 Comments
Once upon a time in another period of my life, I was a working journalist and photojournalist. That was one of the happiest periods of my life a few decades back when I was younger and more energetic and I remember it fondly.
Whilst taking journalism classes at 2 different universities in the 1980s, I heard professors repeat again and again that it was not ethical to receive information from a source who wished to remain unnamed, usually for fear of losing their job, and then to reveal the name of that source should you be questioned about it afterwards. The professors all spoke of the McCarthy era and Watergate and warned us that those days could return again if we were not vigilant about remembering our right to speak the truth.
A situation is unfolding in the USA right now that has brought all of those memories flooding back. Christopher Elliot is a journalist who writes for National Geographic Traveler magazine and he is a columnist for MSNBC.
After the recent bomber scare on a flight from Europe to the USA, the TSA in America has gone into overkill mode and instigated such sparkling bits of travel wisdom such as banning the ability to get out of your seat (even to use the toilet) during the last hour of a flight, disallowing the use of devices such as laptop computers or electronic games during long haul flights, disallowing books or magazines to be opened on your lap, forcing passengers to be quite literally patted down prior to boarding a plane by some airline employee who will touch you all over from head to toe, and forcing you to check on your hand luggage which may contain valuable items or personal documents which are NOT covered by travel insurance if they are checked on.
If you hover over the name Christopher Elliot in either place in this article, it will take you to his own website where you can read this sorry state of affairs. He is a well-known and well-respected journalist and people around the world are frankly furious that, having written an article which cites information from an unnamed source, he has now had a federal agent show up on his doorstep at home 2 days later and present him with a subpoena. The government in the USA just wants him to roll over, play dead, and give up the name of his source.
What is even more bizarre about this whole case is that the TSA actually had the same information very briefly posted on its own site prior to yanking it off — so this was hardly Top Secret information about how the airlines planned to deal with the increase in security. Also, there are several other writers and sites which have carried the information.
It is apparent that Christopher Elliot is being made a scapegoat. The government of the USA has singled him out to try and frighten other journalists into submission to their will. How truly nauseating!
One of the primary goals of any decent journalist is to maintain the integrity of your sources. And another essential factor in good journalism is the ability to act as a watchdog and expose inequities of all kinds, corruption from sources high and low, outright lies by politicians, and fraudulent activity that puts the everyday man and woman at risk.
Elliot simply reported the truth and now he is being hounded for doing so. I hope that this story travels far and wide and exposes the TSA in the USA for exactly what they deny being but actually are — a private army of ill-trained and rude civilian employees whose bullying tactics have made overseas travel a nightmare for tens of thousands of passengers to and from the USA in the post 9-11 years. Elliot has acted with journalistic integrity and this particular branch of the US government continues to act like Cold War thugs.
Let’s hope that the sheer amount of press and internet coverage that this is getting helps to protect this good man!
Tags: Christopher Elliot > journalism > journalist > source > subpoena > truth > TSA
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4 Responses to “Journalistic Truth & Source Protection”
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Deborah Harmes, Ph.D.
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December 30th, 2009 @ 3:28 PM
Deborah, thank you for posting this reminder to those of us who’ve been asleep in this country (the United States). I spoke with a gentleman that I know who’s ancestry drew him through the Middle East over his lifetime, and recently he’s moved to this country, to “realize his dream” for his family. He told me that after this incident which has raised the ire of so many of the sleeping, he was yelled at not once, but twice, by people who upon hearing his accent, decided that he was worthy of suspicion. You know the type, working stiffs going to the local liquor store for their sleeping juice after a hard day’s work, who then decide that their anger is sufficient training to determine another man’s motivations. Well, I am praying that this recent development by another whack-job doesn’t turn into what we went through in 2001-2002, when “we” turned over so many of our rights in this country, to the government.
Again, Deborah, kudos, and thanks for the heads-up!
December 30th, 2009 @ 4:17 PM
I was quite concerned when I saw that this one journalist was singled out for this kind of harassment. Can you imagine how upsetting it would be to have a federal agent turn up on your doorstep with a subpoena? And no matter how ‘nice’ the agent might have been to the children and the cats, it is still rather sinister.
Elliot has a high profile in the journalism community and I believe that is why he was plucked out of the writing community to be made an example of.
Your comments about the treatment of people of Middle Eastern origins are also quite disturbing to read. That sort of unthinking speech and action is quite destructive to any attempts at building a cohesive and fully functioning multicultural society. We have a few wobbles with that sort of thing here in Australia, but they are few and far between compared to what happens over there.
Glad you enjoyed the article and please do pass it on to others who are still concerned about freedom and the right to know the truth.
January 4th, 2010 @ 3:11 AM
Hi Debroah:
How refreshing to find your well-written, insightful blog.
We are definitely going through tough times in this country, bred by fear, which have resulted in ridiculous actions and policies from security agencies. I was particularly alarmed by the TSA assertion that Chris Elliott was NOT a journalist; fortunately he was able to disabuse the agents of this notion. But it does not bode well for the body of legitimate bloggers, nor, I believe, for our society in general.
I’ve followed you on Twitter, bookmarked your blog, and will be returning.
Barbara
January 4th, 2010 @ 3:38 AM
Thank you, Barbara.
I’m an Australian citizen now and have lived here for rather a long time, but it is quite disconcerting to see the country that I grew up in (the USA) devolve to the point where personal rights and freedoms seem to be more and more eroded with each passing year. The government over there seems to use any unfortunate incident as another excuse to clamp down further on people’s rights.
Lovely to have you come by for a visit and leave comments.