Controversy
arose Monday when The Associated Press and The Seattle Times, along with the
rest of America, learned of a fake news story and site created by the FBI in
2007 to aid in their investigation of a bomb threat suspect. Police called on
the FBI for help in June 07 after repeated threats. They sent an email with the
link of a fake AP story on a fake Seattle Times webpage to the suspect. The
link contained software that gave the FBI the suspect’s location. He was
arrested soon after.
So
what’s the big deal? The Associated Press is pretty upset that the FBI used
their name and Kathy Best, Seattle Times editor had a few things to say about
the matter.
"Not only does that cross a line, it erases it. Our
reputation and our ability to do our job as a government watchdog are based on
trust. Nothing is more fundamental to that trust than our independence — from
law enforcement, from government, from corporations and from all other special
interests. The FBI's actions, taken without our knowledge, traded on our
reputation and put it at peril.”
AP
and Seattle Times argue this broke the trust the government and the media share
but I question that supposed trust. Since stories like Watergate the media has
always sought out a scandal. I
wouldn’t exactly call that trust. I also can’t seem to understand how this shed
a bad light on AP or Seattle Times. Yes, their names were used without
permission but what damage was done to their reputation?
The
FBI stated they will only use this technique in difficult situations when other
sources have been exhausted. The only issue I have with this is privacy. How
far will the FBI go to catch a suspect? Maybe what AP and Seattle Times are
really so upset about is a lack of respect.
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