In the United States, 9/11 spawned a major conflict between the
imperatives of national security and the principles of the
constitution’s First Amendment. This amendment enshrines every person’s
right to inform and be informed. But the heritage of the 1776
constitution was shaken to its foundations during George W. Bush’s two
terms as president by the way journalists were harassed and even
imprisoned for refusing to reveal their sources or surrender their files
to federal judicial officials.
There has been little improvement in practice under Barack Obama. Rather
than pursuing journalists, the emphasis has been on going after their
sources, but often using the journalist to identify them. No fewer that
eight individuals have been charged under the Espionage Act since Obama became president, compared with three during Bush’s two terms. While 2012 was in part the year of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, 2013 will be remember for the National Security Agency computer specialist Edward Snowden, who exposed the mass surveillance methods developed by the US intelligence agencies.
The whistleblower is the enemy. Hence the 35-year jail term imposed on Private Chelsea/Bradley Manning
for being the big WikiLeaks source, an extremely long sentence but
nonetheless small in comparison with the 105-year sentence requested for
freelance journalist Barrett Brown in a hacking case. Amid an all-out hunt for leaks and sources, 2013 will also be the year of the Associated Press scandal, which came to light when the Department of Justice acknowledged that it had seized the news agency’s phone records.
-- Reporters Without Borders, "World Press Freedom Index 2014."