Despite the reaction that is undoubtedly going to appear against the information contained in this article, I think it’s about time that newspapers had second thoughts about printing sensitive information, particularly if that sensitive information was obtained illegally. Reporting the truth about things is important, yes, but when documents are sealed or classified, it’s for a reason. If the government isn’t willing to release stuff under FOIA, it should remain classified. The typical liberal journalist response is that ‘government shouldn’t have secrets.’ In an ideal world, this would be true. However, our world is far from ideal, and must be accepted as such. Releasing classified information to the public makes the government’s job more difficult, and can also get soldiers killed if the information is about military matters.
Hopefully this indicates a new age of journalistic responsibility for upholding the laws, even when they ‘interfere’ with the journalist’s ‘job.’ With journalists being more wary about being sent to jail, perhaps their sources will be less likely to break laws in their attempts to use the journalists to win their own intradepartmental battles — something that often comes at the price of hurting the government and the country as a whole.