In the wake of massive government leaks published by the Guardian, a war on press freedoms has erupted.
Guardian Editor-in-Chief Alan Rusbridger testified Tuesday before a U.K. parliamentary committee on the nature of controversial articles that his newspaper had published, according to Russia Today.
The nature of the hearing hinged on whether the Guardian had violated the U.K’s national security through the release of confidential information, according to Russia Today.
Although some may believe Tuesday’s hearing was necessary, it seemed like more of a witch hunt.
An example of the witch hunt-like hearing occurred when an ignorant member of Parliament asked Rusbridger about the famous World War II Enigma code machine.
According to the Huffington Post, Rusbridger was asked if he would give secret codes of the Engima machine to Nazi Germany if given the opportunity in World War II.
The Huffington Post duly pointed out that Nazi Germany created the Engima machine, thus it would already know the secret codes.
Instead of praising the Guardian and its editor-in-chief for their exemplary work that revealed massive U.S. surveillance programs, members of Parliament have done the exact opposite.
Grilling Rusbridger in an attempt to undermine his credibility or portray him as unfit is extremely disrespectful.
Tuesday’s hearing was not the first time that government officials have tried to scare Guardian journalists.
David Miranda, the partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, was detained by British police in August.
According to the Guardian, Miranda arose suspicion among UK authorities after his recent visit to a journalist in Berlin who worked with Edward Snowden.
“They were threatening me all the time and saying I would be put in jail if I didn’t cooperate,” Miranda told the Guardian. “They treated me like I was a criminal or someone about to attack the U.K.”
Miranda later told the Guardian that police took his laptop and external hard drive.
Although he was never charged with a crime by U.K. police, it’s evident that Miranda’s detention resulted from his working with journalists surrounding Edward Snowden’s National Security Agency leaks.
What is disturbing about the U.K’s criticism of the Guardian is that one of Britain’s leading newspapers has done nothing wrong.
Rusbridger has contacted government officials from organizations like the FBI more than 100 times, according to the Guardian.
If Rusbridger recklessly published leaked information on the Internet, then criticisms leveled against him would be justified.
This hasn’t been the case, though.
Rusbridger has always been extremely careful when it comes to publishing sensitive information.
Whereas WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange can be characterized as reckless, Rusbridger is much more careful.
Attacking one of the leading crusaders against tyranny and corruption only serves to make the U.K. government look bad.
It seems like U.K. government leaders do not want the truth to be told.
Because of intrepid journalists like Rusbridger, citizens of the world have become much more informed on important First Amendment issues.
We should be grateful for people like him.
Shane Newell is a junior journalism major and the opinions editor at the Daily 49er.