Journalists love to parade around as defenders of the First Amendment whenever they’re asked to reveal a source. In reality, cases where they actually pay a price for that defiance are few and far between. One of the most famous examples is former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who became a cause célèbre during the Valerie Plame affair.
She sat in a jail cell for 85 days before finally agreeing to limited testimony before a grand jury. Miller’s reluctant cooperation eventually led to Lewis “Scooter” Libby being exposed—while her other sources remained protected.
But here’s the glaring double standard: what happens when it’s not a journalist shielding a source, but a federal agent violating a citizen’s privacy? When the FBI “outs” a private citizen—illegally—and that person wants accountability in civil court, suddenly the rules change.
There’s no First Amendment privilege, no army of media lawyers rushing to defend the individual’s rights. Instead, the FBI hides behind layers of bureaucracy and shrugs off the violation as though constitutional protections don’t apply to ordinary Americans.Take the case of Yanping Chen. A decade ago, Chen—a Chinese American scientist—found herself at the center of an FBI probe. Agents suspected she had lied on immigration forms about her supposed ties to a Chinese rocket program. Her home was raided, personal property seized.
And yet, despite the spectacle of a federal investigation, Chen was never charged with a crime. Two years later, Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge published a story on the case. Herridge’s reporting included details and even personal items seized during the FBI raid—items that should have been protected under the Privacy Act.
The consequences for Chen were devastating. Her reputation was destroyed, her business collapsed, and the Department of Defense abruptly canceled her contracts. Again, all of this happened without a single charge ever being filed.
