Responsible journalism, or abuse?
TIM Rutten’s column [“Reporting So Good It’s ... Criminal?,” April 22] supporting the granting of Pulitzer Prizes to journalists for publishing classified information asks “how responsible journalists should handle classified information when reporting on a government that uses the designation as a matter of political expediency and mere convenience.”
Is ignoring the classified designation as a matter of journalistic expediency and personal advancement any better?
There will always be risks of abuse, but if I must choose between the government and the reporters for the Washington Post to determine what information should be kept secret to protect our nation, I choose the government.
GREGORY P. CHAMBERS
Los Angeles
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The day that journalists stop revealing indefensible government secrets that have been leaked by knowledgeable sources is the day that we will have lost our civil liberties and the very freedoms that this administration claims to be protecting.
We should be paying attention not so much to the leak and the leaker, but to the substance of the leak -- egregious violations of constitutional rights, human rights and the law.
LENORE NAVARRO DOWLING
Los Angeles
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