The most important job of the press is arguably its role as a watchdog function.
It’s what drew me to pursue a major in journalism. The prospect of taking on established leaders and politicians and calling them out on their hypocrisies is an empowering and enticing one.
So when I hear the Obama administration has taken action against hard journalism and its sources, both at home and abroad, I take notice.
The best example of Obama’s war on journalism worldwide is the story of Yemeni journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye.
Shaye gained recognition after missiles hit the Yemeni village al Majala in an attempt to take out al-Qaida operatives. The official story was that the Yemeni government was solely responsible for the attack, but when Shaye visited the village for himself, he found something that conflicted with what Yemeni officials were reporting.
Shaye took pictures of United States Tomahawk missile components at the bomb site, revealing that the United States must have played a role in the attack because the Yemeni military did not have such equipment.
He also disclosed that along with 14 alleged al-Qaida operatives, 14 women and 21 children were killed in the attack. Shaye’s position was later corroborated when WikiLeaks cables confirmed Yemeni officials were indeed lying to their citizens and claiming responsibility for the attacks.
Since then, Shaye has been sentenced to five years in prison in Yemen on terrorism-related charges. He was set to be pardoned by former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh in February 2011, until Saleh received a phone call from the leader of the free world himself.
Obama “expressed concern” about Shaye’s release to Saleh, and just like that, Shaye’s pardon was forgotten.
You may wonder how this is an attack on journalism since Shaye was convicted of supporting al-Qaida in Yemen, because of course Obama would want to keep another terrorist sympathizer off the streets.
But, human-rights organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have condemned Shaye’s trial for failing to meet “international standards of due process.” In fact, the most damning claim against Shaye seems to have been his connection, through marriage, with an al-Qaida cleric, which he used to gain access to other leaders of the terrorist organization.
What Shaye seems most guilty of is his desire to report both sides of a story and his commitment to exposing the truth, even if it’s against U.S. interests.
Yet the Obama administration’s attack on those who release information contrary to its goals is not limited to foreign nations. In our own country, the administration has done its best to silence and destroy the lives of whistleblowers.
Before Obama took office, the 1917 Espionage Act was used three times in cases against federal officials who provided information to the media. Since Obama has been in power, the act has been used six times – a sharp departure from his promise to improve “whistleblower laws to protect federal workers.”
Whistleblowers have been treated indecently by the administration, going so far as to not only ruin their careers but attack their livelihood in the process.
Thomas Drake, who revealed that the NSA spent $1.2 billion to contract a project that could have been done for $3 million, was forced out of his job and had his house raided.
Bradley Manning, who is believed to have leaked diplomatic cables and war logs to WikiLeaks, has endured horrible conditions in a military prison.
John Kiriakou, a former CIA operative, was charged with giving information to journalists on the use of torture on terrorist suspects, such as waterboarding. The CIA responded by firing his wife while she was on maternity leave.
This treatment of whistleblowers is intolerable. Not once, in any of these cases, can the government say with a straight face that national security was threatened. Even the leaks released by Manning did nothing to endanger informants or the security of the American people.
People who expose the truth and leak this kind of information make up the heart of good, investigative journalism.
Attacking them demonstrates that Obama is not a friend to the free press.
David Scheuermann is a 20-year-old mass communication and computer science sophomore from Kenner. Follow him on Twitter at @TDR_dscheu.
 
 
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Contact David Scheuermann at [email protected].