Handling of Leaked Report Raises Concerns Among Other Journalists -
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM and JOHN KOBLINJUNE 6, 2017
Journalism in the Trump era has featured a staggering number of leaks from sources across the federal government, providing bombshell
revelations about everything from clandestine meetings with Russian officials to petty infighting at the White House.
But the arrest of Reality Leigh Winner, an intelligence contractor accused of leaking a classified report about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, has raised concerns
about the measures taken by news organizations to protect confidential informers, with some reporters worrying about a chilling effect on potential sources.
“We shouldn’t assume that if something comes in a plain brown envelope,
that we don’t have a very high level of duty to protect the identity of a person, even anonymous to us.”
President Trump, like his predecessor Barack Obama, has signaled a willingness to pursue and prosecute government leakers.
In an interview, Mr. Gellman said The Intercept’s scoop was “a really good story” from a professional organization
that “knows a lot about this stuff — they have arguably the best operational security experts in journalism over there.”
“So it’s baffling that they didn’t make use of them,” he added.
Veteran journalists did not hold back on Tuesday in criticizing The Intercept, the online news outlet
that published an intelligence report from the National Security Agency.