Ted Bridis comments on FBI search of Washington Post reporter’s home

Ted Bridis, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) Michael and Linda Connelly senior lecturer in Investigative Reporting, was quoted in “Journalists confront new reality in reporting after FBI raid” published in The Washington Post on Jan. 15.

The FBI searched a Washington Post reporter’s home on Jan. 14 causing multiple media outlets to swiftly secure their phones and laptops and reassure confidential sources.

Bridis, a former Washington investigations editor for the Associated Press, is familiar with this scenario. He had his phone records, along with those of his employees, secretly obtained by the Department of Justice in 2012, during the AP’s reporting into the NYPD’s clandestine surveillance of Muslims in New York City.

“It’s incredibly intimidating to be targeted by the government,” said Bridis.

After his team won the Pulitzer Prize and news of the Justice Department’s actions became public, “people who used to meet us for coffee refused,” said Bridis. “Our sources were scared to talk to us.”

Category: College News
Tagged: Journalism Ted Bridis Washington Post
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