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Useful, if slightly stale, report on terror probes

By Mark Obbie

Ari Shapiro's report on today's Morning Edition gets its numbers on the simultaneous decline of terrorism prosecutions and increase in terror-investigation wiretaps from administration critics Human Rights First. But, if anything, the administration's views on why intelligence gathering has eclipsed law enforcement priorities are voiced more clearly and forcefully through Shapiro's sources. So the right's usual slam against NPR for liberal bias should fall flat in this instance. The harder question is whether Shapiro is guilty of hyping a story that's not news. His first quoted source, a former prosecutor, touts the "quiet revolution" taking place as law enforcement priorities shift to intelligence gathering. As other sources point out, as does Shapiro himself (including in the unusually extensive text version of the story), there's nothing quiet or new about this post-9/11 revolution. It's been heavily documented by journalists, authors, and scholars for years, including by our sister organization at Syracuse University, TRAC. Shapiro could have tried harder to find the latest twist in the story. But his intelligent storytelling and authoritative sourcing still provide a useful reminder to listeners that the government's policies are in flux and under debate.

Full post as published by Lawbeat on July 11, 2008 (boomark / email).