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ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone Calls

By Jeralyn, Section War on Terror
Posted on Mon May 15, 2006 at 09:18:00 AM EST
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Think Progress reports that ABC investigative reporters say that the Government is monitoring their phone calls to ascertain their confidential courses.

A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources.

"It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," the source told us in an in-person conversation.

The ABC reporters continue:

Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation.

....Under Bush Administration guidelines, it is not considered illegal for the government to keep track of numbers dialed by phone customers. The official who warned ABC News said there was no indication our phones were being tapped so the content of the conversation could be recorded.

In other words, the phone calls are not being listened to, but the reporters' phone records are being examined to see who they called. Sounds like a good time to switch to Qwest.

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    • ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone Calls | 18 comments (18 topical)
    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon May 15, 2006 at 09:36:17 AM EST
    Josh Marshall is wondering whether this is the other shoe dropping. I'll bet there are many more "shoes" in the closet.

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#2)
    by TomStewart on Mon May 15, 2006 at 09:42:06 AM EST
    The Bush Admin has to come up with a new story everyday, as the previous on becomes 'inoperative'. Is anyone buying anything they say anymore?

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon May 15, 2006 at 09:46:18 AM EST
    So, the main problem is not that our spy agencies are breaking laws, it's that they're being outed by their own people? The only possible reason for them to care about the news getting out is that it makes it more difficult for them to break the law. Gotta love that.

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon May 15, 2006 at 09:54:52 AM EST
    goodasgold: May I suggest they have Imelda Marcos's closet at their disposal? Really - they have been targeting journalists for a while - in Iraq with bullets, bugging Amanapour, chasing whistleblowers and intimidating. Nothing new here. Move along......

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#5)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon May 15, 2006 at 09:59:59 AM EST
    et al - Sounds like they have went before a judge and have a warrant. You have a problem with that? Sounds like the CIA War is about to be over.

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon May 15, 2006 at 10:10:56 AM EST
    Perhaps it's not the government.

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon May 15, 2006 at 10:11:10 AM EST
    JimakaPPJ - you said "Sounds like they have went before a judge and have a warrant." Why do you say that (and I don't mean the weird grammar)? What in any of the words or phrases in any of the articles cited "sounds like" that to you??

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon May 15, 2006 at 10:25:37 AM EST
    Jeralyn, this is great. You contacted the writer of the article, Rove's lawyer and publicist and put all their statements into the public record. To me it is fascinating. I realized as I was writing this note that it reminded me of All The President's Men (the movie). So my question is who will play you in the movie. I am going for Angelina Jolie right now but since it may take a decade to greenlight it, how about Julia Stiles (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005466/) she often plays intelligent women.

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#9)
    by Elliott on Mon May 15, 2006 at 10:26:16 AM EST
    One of the creepiest thing are the StasiWorld comments that follow this article at ABC: linked text

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon May 15, 2006 at 11:09:54 AM EST
    It's all part of diverting attention from the real issue which is the illegitimate war in Iraq.

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#11)
    by Sailor on Mon May 15, 2006 at 12:59:12 PM EST
    et al - Sounds like they have went before a judge and have a warrant.
    They ALREADY said they didn't have warrants, they BRAGGED about not having warrants! ppj, GFY. In spades. That said, remember how the first excuse was 'well they're only tapping AQ to US' phones, originating overseas. Well that's a proven lie. Then it was 'hey, it's only numbers, trapping numbers is legal'. No it's not! We passed laws to prevent that. Next it'll be 'but we had to do this to protect our Fearful Leader' ... and where have I heard THAT before!?

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#12)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon May 15, 2006 at 01:27:13 PM EST
    Sailor - I see no proof that, since these are US persons presumaby not speaking with terrorists outside the US that, if the government is listening to the telcons in question, they do have warrants. Now, if you have some proof, please bring it forward. As for tracking the numbers, that is not illegal and they do not need warrants. My guess is they do have warrants, they are listening and they are tracking.

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#13)
    by desertswine on Mon May 15, 2006 at 01:48:51 PM EST
    "If you are an American and you are talking to Al Queda, well we would sure like to know about it"
    - President Liar Don't tell me the NSA thinks ABC is conspiring with al Queda. That's what the domestic wiretapping was supposed to be about, not spying on political enemies.

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#15)
    by kdog on Mon May 15, 2006 at 02:47:50 PM EST
    The lawless actions of our govt. does not surprise me. Heck, they've been chopping down the freedom tree for 50 years. The fact that half the country is cheerleading for tyranny is a lot more troubling.

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#17)
    by Sailor on Mon May 15, 2006 at 09:26:09 PM EST
    They ALREADY said they didn't have warrants, they BRAGGED about not having warrants!

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue May 16, 2006 at 04:59:00 AM EST
    ppj, HIJACKING ANOTHER THREAD WITH LIES, TL, DOES HE REALLY SEND THAT MUCH MONEY?

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#19)
    by Jlvngstn on Tue May 16, 2006 at 05:48:12 AM EST
    I cannot think of a more appropriate scenario to instill ethics back in mainstream reporting. The complicity of the press in the Iraq war and war on terror via the lack of investigative journalism for "access" has created a public relations machine for this administration (Clintons as well for that matter). MSM has become an extension of the WH press corps disseminating information at will sans questioning. The WH offers access and nuggets of intel to support their agenda (this goes back a century or so), and the reporters who play well with the team are the recipients. When a rogue gov't official releases something not aligned with the admins goals, 5 more leaks to trusted reporters refuting the intel empirically thus creating a cloud of speculation. The best way to return some independence and neutrality to the press corps is to punish the ones you do not care for, i.e. tap their phones etc. At some point, someone in the MSM will fall out of favor with the admin making themselves a target of an investigation and the situation will implode. If anyone ever had any doubt as to the importance of term limits for the president of the US, this should serve as a shining example of why they are necessary. Too much power by a sitting president and the press corps has no alternative but to play nice nice until a catastrophe strikes an administration and they become vulnerable. We do not have term limits now and look at what that power does to the objectivity of the msm......

    Re: ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone C (none / 0) (#20)
    by jondee on Tue May 16, 2006 at 07:23:41 AM EST
    One last thing. PPJ's seeming unbridled license here is a perfect metaphor for what so many find fault with in the larger media: why some voices get (mysteriously) filtered out, while those with a firm faith in "its the money not the principal" always have a permanent place at the table. And the upshot is you get to hear talk radio educated scum accuse those opposed to brutality and sadism of 1) lying 2) lying to disguise their treason; along with assorted other demands and veiled threats to those who refuse to put their principals on hold in the service of Der Fatherland; a non-stop, droning, series of variations on the one non-thought "yer either (unquestioningly) wid us or agin us."

    ABC News: Gov't Montioring Reporters' Phone Calls | 18 comments (18 topical)