US senator Joseph Lieberman suggested in an interview with Fox News today that the New York Times and other media organizations could be investigated for publishing the US embassy cables that have been released by WikiLeaks. According to Lieberman, these organizations could be breaking American espionage laws when they publish these stories.
Lieberman is quoted in The Guardian as saying: "To me the New York Times has committed at least an act of, at best, bad citizenship, but whether they have committed a crime is a matter of discussion for the justice department."
According to The Guardian, Lieberman also suggested that Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, should be indicted under the 1917 Espionage Act.
The whole idea that New York Times and other news organizations should be prosecuted is, of course, quite absurd. It does, however, follow quite logically from what law specialists has previously stated. Jonathan Turley, for example, has said that if WikiLeaks is to be prosecuted, "we could be entering a very dangerous period for press freedom in our country". This is where most people would probably realize that it's a bad idea to go after WikiLeaks, but Lieberman is definitely not like most people.
I put a picture of Lieberman in the top of this blog. If you see him and have read this blog, it seems like a good idea to run!
I'll try to follow this story too.
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