◼ Obama's efforts to control leaks 'most aggressive since Nixon', report finds - The Guardian
...Jeffrey Smith, a national security reporter at the Center for Public Integrity, and one of several journalists to express such concerns, said in the report: "I now worry about calling somebody, because the contact can be found through a check of phone records or emails. It leaves a digital trail that makes it easier for the government to monitor those contacts."
Scott Shane, the national security reporter at the New York Times, said: "Most people are deterred by those leaks prosecutions. They're scared to death. There's a grey zone between classified and unclassified information and most sources were in that grey zone."
It was having a damaging effect on democracy, Shane said. "If we consider aggressive press coverage of government activities [as] being at the core of American democracy, this tips the balance heavily in favor of the government."
Downie said that while the administration provides information through social media, it is "mostly self-serving information, as opposed to information that would hold the government to account. Journalists are being told to speak to public affairs office, but the public affairs office doesn't call them back or is hostile...."
