David Axelrod rejected the notion that news organizations will be intimidated by the Department of Justice’s subpoenas of reporters, arguing Friday that the leak investigations will instead deter government officials from disclosing classified information.
Recalling his own experience as a reporter, the former top adviser to President Barack Obama said that threats from officials made his newspaper bosses more apt to give his stories front page billing.
“Look, there’s no responsible news organization that isn’t going to continue to plow away,” Axelrod said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I used to be a reporter, I’ve said before, when officials threatened me my newspaper would put me on the front page every day just to send them a message. I don’t think the AP, I don’t think the New York Times, certainly not Fox News, they’re not going to pull their horns in because of this. But it may discourage some people who take a sworn oath that they’re not going to release highly classified information. It may persuade them that they shouldn’t do that and is that really a bad thing?”
