In this electronic era, with information and news stories a mouse click away, the saying “Don’t believe everything you read in a newspaper” should be changed to “Don’t believe every news story link received by email,” thanks to questionable tactics of the FBI.

In 2007, a Seattle FBI agent posed as an Associated Press journalist to deliver surveillance software to a 15-year-old suspect’s computer via a link to a fake AP story.

At the time, the FBI was investigating bomb threats at a high school.

In December 2014, according to a report in the Washington Post, FBI Director James Comey said an agent might again pose as a journalist as part of an investigation.

According to the article, Comey told reporters during a roundtable discussion he was “not willing to say never” when asked if the FBI would swear off future use of the tactic.

This was in response to demands by the AP the previous month that the FBI never again have an agent pose as a journalist.

AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt, in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Comey, demanded to know who authorized the sting, the process for giving approval and if such operations are still being done.

“Most importantly, we want assurances this won’t happen again,” Pruitt wrote.

Pruitt said AP’s “legacy of objectivity, truth, accuracy and integrity” had been degraded.

“In stealing our identity, the FBI tarnishes that reputation, belittles the value of the free press rights enshrined in our Constitution and endangers AP journalists and other news gatherers around the world,” he wrote. “This deception corrodes the most fundamental tenet of a free press - our independence from government control and corollary responsibility to hold government accountable.”

This August, the AP sued the FBI for failing to provide information, requested under the Freedom of Information Act, about the sting operation.

The federal lawsuit also seeks information on all the times since 2000 the FBI has posed as a journalist.

If posing as a fake journalist is not despicable enough, before the death of Osama bin Laden, the CIA gathered DNA samples in Pakistan to locate him, under the guise of giving hepatitis vaccinations to residents of the area.

The news of that operation soon broke worldwide.

With polio still rampant in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria and India, how long before Taliban and al Qaeda leaders mount anti-vaccination campaigns saying the American government is just seeking to gather DNA to locate their own members?

When a member of the media accidentally makes a mistake in print or on the air, a correction and apology are issued as soon as the error comes to light.

When the government intentionally plants false news stories or uses life-saving vaccinations as a way to surreptitiously garner information, the reputation of the news agency and trust of the people are destroyed.

Deb Palmieri

editor

Parkland Press

Northwestern Press