News leaks and the media

News leaks, especially of classified information, are challenging to deal with as governments have to be careful not to be seen as encroaching on media freedom and the public’s right to know what their leaders are doing in order to hold them to account.

Recently, the Trump administration announced a crackdown on the leaking of classified information by White House staff members to the media. It also announced that it would review US government guidelines on prosecuting media professionals who published leaked information.

There are different types of leaks: leaks that are classified, but rather more inconvenient to leaders if they were to be published; leaks that are highly classified and damaging to national security if they were to be published; and leaks that expose violations of the law, such as corruption and abuse of power. Obviously the Trump administration was not referring to the latter, as such persons are protected by law.

People who are given security clearance undertake an oath of confidentiality, restricting them from disclosing classified and sensitive information. The violation of that oath can lead to and prosecutions.

But why should legal proceedings stop there? Why should the media not be prosecuted for publishing information that was classified as confidential?

If a leaker is charged with mishandling classified information  thereby endangering national security, what is an even bigger crime is the publishing of that information on a mass media platform.

Is it fair that leakers have to spend time in jail or be fined thousands of dollars for their misconduct, while media practitioners get away with it? They are after all accessories to the crime in the eyes of the law.

Media practitioners will try by all means to defend their actions. A case in point is the defense and support of The Washington Post's decision to publish transcripts of President Trump’s phone calls with the Australian and Mexican leaders. The information was not only classified, but it was also not in the public’s interest to know. It could in the end have a damaging effect on US international relations.

While it is important to preserve freedom of the press as a guardianship of democracy and holding government officials accountable, it is important that media practitioners do not abuse that freedom, especially in the US with the present climate of a media bias against the Trump administration. Their anger towards the Trump administration can cloud their journalistic judgement on what constitutes information that is in the public interest rather than simply publishing information with the intend to embarrass a government administration that is despised by many.

 It is not easy to draw a balance between the need for an informed public and the right of the media to access to information and the need to protect national security. However, I hope that the decision by the Trump administration will sparks a debate that will assist in striking a balance that is beneficial for all parties involved – government, the media and the public.