Update 23.6.2023: New EU law was supposed to protect journalists, instead it legalises spying on them - "The law should protect journalists and their sources. The commission's proposal was not perfect, but it has been further degraded after recent negotiations. This is extremely worrying." - But if the current version of the proposal is ratified, the Freedom of the Media Act will "legalise the use of spyware against journalists" - "The Council is taking dangerous steps to legalise unacceptable forms of surveillance of journalists and their sources." - EU Document Pegassus (22.5.2023)
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Daniel Ellsberg, described by CNN as the "patron saint of whistleblowers", died last Friday at the age of 92.
"All governments lie and therefore nothing they say can be trusted. Every piece of information they give must always be verified and confronted. Checking power is the most important part of democracy."
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In June 1971, Daniel Ellsberg placed truth above lies masquerading as the national interest, throwing away a stellar career as one of the Pentagon's most respected analysts and planners. He gave New York Times reporters eight thousand pages of top-secret documents about the Vietnam War that refuted everything four American presidents had told Congress and their citizens about it. It earned him a number of felony charges and a proposed sentence of 155 years in prison.
His actions are being hailed as the beginning of the road to ending the Vietnam War. One man forced a desperate administration of President Richard Nixon to attack freedom of the press in court. The ensuing litigation produced perhaps the most important ruling in the history of the United States Supreme Court.
Citing the U.S. Constitution, it said, "The press is to serve the citizens, not the rulers. The power of the government to censor the press has been abolished so that the press may forever be free to control the government. The press was protected so that it could reveal the secrets of government and inform the citizens. Only a free and unfettered press can effectively expose fraud in government."
Daniel Ellsberg, described by CNN as the "patron saint of whistleblowers," died last Friday at the age of 92
"I was very naive and frustrated at the time. I knew I was probably going to be put in jail for the rest of my life, so I wanted my children, who were 13 and 10 at the time, to know what I was doing and to be involved in some way. So my son helped me with the Xerox and my younger daughter used scissors to cut off the Top Secret stamps on every page. I assumed that as minors they couldn't prosecute them, so I told my ex-wife as well. And she wouldn't shut up about it in front of her mother."
He was lucky. The New York Times published the first part of the documents before the FBI could silence him. What followed was the dirtiest episode in the history of the American presidency.
Daniel Ellsberg founded the Foundation for the Defense of Freedom of the Press and defended whistleblowers of all countries and generations.
In his last interview, given to CNN in March of this year, he said: "All governments lie, and therefore nothing they say can be trusted. You always need to verify and confront every piece of information they give. Checking power is the most important part of democracy."
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