FBI’s attack on watchdog press

Seattle Times: Americans of every stripe should echo The Associated Press’ recent demand that the Federal Bureau of Investigation never present its agents as journalists again.

This appeal comes after the FBI acknowledged two weeks ago that one of its agents posed as an AP reporter to snare a teenager making bomb threats against a Thurston County high school in 2007.

FBI Director James B. Comey argued in a letter to The New York Times that, when such tactics are employed, they are done “reasonably and legally,” and are subject to close court supervision.

A matter of trust

Journalists disagree, and so should anyone who values the fundamental freedoms of American life. If sources think that journalists are cooperating with law enforcement, or actually are law-enforcement officers, those sources with important information to tell would not trust reporters. Stories would not be shared, investigated, published. The watchdog would not be as strong.