DNC Endangers Principles of Press Freedom by Suing WikiLeaks

In April, the Democratic National Committee, the governing body of the Democratic Party, announced that it was suing WikiLeaks and Julian Assange--along with a number of other defendants, including the Trump campaign and Russian operatives--for their alleged involvement in the theft and dissemination of DNC computer files during the 2016 election. On its surface, the DNC's argument seems to fly in the face of the Supreme Court's precedent in Bartnicki v. Vopper that publishers are not responsible for the illegal acts of their sources. It also goes against press freedom precedents going back to the Pentagon Papers and contains arguments that could make it more difficult for reporters to do their jobs or that foreign governments could use against U.S. journalists working abroad, First Amendment experts told CPJ.

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