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The Globe, the tipster and the FBI (IV)
The FBI’s statement criticizing the Boston Globe for claiming the agency had acquiesced in the paper’s decision to name Whitey Bulger tipster Anna Bjornsdottir has breathed at least one day of new life...
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AP probe should be a wake-up call for journalists
By Trevor Timm As part of a new leak investigation, the Justice Department has secretly obtained the call records for 20 phone lines owned by the Associated Press, which could put sources for as many...
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Misplaced priorities at the Boston Police Dept.
Howard Zinn Last October the Massachusetts chapter of the ACLU revealed that the Boston Police Department had been spying on left-wing activists such as the late Howard Zinn. The police were working...
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Naming names: Did the Globe make the right call?
Previously published at WGBH News. We’re going to be hearing a lot about The Boston Globe’s decision to publish the names of the FBI agent and State Police troopers who were involved in the Florida...
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FBI wants to know if journalists have been naughty or nice
I’ll be on “NightSide with Dan Rea” at 8 p.m. on WBZ Radio (AM 1030) to talk about this article in The Washington Times revealing an FBI plan to rate news stories about the agency as “positive,”...
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A polite debate over Apple, the FBI, and encryption
Previously published at WGBHNews.org. I had expected fireworks—or at least strong disagreements—when Internet privacy advocate Jonathan Zittrain and former CIA director John Deutsch debated the impasse...
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The state of the Clinton email investigation
Based on what we know so far, FBI Director James Comey’s bombshell letter is likely to lead to very little. Having upended the election campaign with just days to go, Comey owes it to the public to...
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Bad news for Hillary Clinton: ‘Carlos Danger’ is back
Anthony Weiner during his New York mayoral campaign. Photo (cc) by Azi Paybarah. At a time when no one knows anything about the latest Hillary Clinton email story beyond the cryptic letter that FBI...
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A Washington Post correction adds to confusion over Rudy Giuliani and the FBI
Rudy Giuliani. Photo (cc) 2019 by Gage Skidmore When you have to publish a correction, be forthcoming about it. The Washington Post failed to do that over the weekend, thus compounding the harm it had...
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It’s time for the feds to stop hassling and spying on the press
FBI headquarters. Photo (cc) 2008 by zaimoku_woodpile. It was a move reminiscent of the post-9/11 Patriot Act, which allowed federal investigators to spy on the reading habits of library and bookstore...
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Finally, interesting news about Whitey Bulger
Whitey Bulger I have a confession: the Whitey Bulger story has always bored me. No, not heart of it — the murders, the corrupt dealings with the FBI, the bad brother/good brother dynamic between Whitey...
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Salon gets it wrong on Barnicle and Whitey
Mike Barnicle It was a sensational accusation, and it appeared to be backed up with the man’s own words. On Thursday, Salon posted a piece claiming that Mike Barnicle wrote a column in the Boston Globe...
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Yes, the Weather Underground again
Walter Schroeder Former Weather Underground leader Bill Ayers’ reputation, such as it is, rests on his assertion that the radical organization, for all its violent rhetoric and activities, never killed...
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The Globe, the tipster and the FBI
Note: Please see this update. The Boston Globe on Sunday published an exhaustive story about Whitey Bulger and Catherine Greig’s life on the lam. The package of articles, by Shelley Murphy and Maria...
View ArticleThe Globe, the tipster and the FBI (II)
How Whitey Bulger got caught: MyFoxBOSTON.com Boston Globe reporter Shelley Murphy appeared on WFXT-TV (Channel 25) this morning to talk about her and Maria Cramer’s impressively detailed story about...
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The Globe, the tipster and the FBI (III)
Whitey Bulger Boston Globe editors today explain why they decided to release the name of Anna Bjornsdottir, the former actress from Iceland who tipped off the FBI that Whitey Bulger and Catherine Greig...
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Project Veritas is at the vortex of two cases that threaten the First Amendment
James O’Keefe of Project Veritas. Photo (cc) 2020 by Gage Skidmore. A pair of legal battles involving Project Veritas, a right-wing activist group known for recording its victims on hidden camera and...
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