TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - News Office Associated Press (AP) on Monday stated that the United States government secretly tapped their office and some journalists' phone record for two months period in 2012. The office described the action as "massive, and never occurred intrusion" in US journalism practice.
Gary Pruitt, Chief Executive AP, in a post at AP's website, said that AP was told by the Justice Department that the government has collected records of more than 20 phone lines in the office.
"There is no justification for secretly collecting the phone line of Associated Press and its journalist," said Pruitt in a letter addressed to General Attorney Eric Holder.
An unofficial report from AP did not mention the reason that the government put an interest on their phone lines. However, prior to this, a US official once said that the attorney at District of Columbia has conducted an investigation on the information in AP report, dated May 7, 2012. In the report, AP told the CIA's operation in Yemen that intercepted Al Qaeda's plan to blow a bomb in a plane heading to US.
The five journalists and an editor involved in the story were the ones being tapped by the government. The phone tapped was from April and May 2012 in New York, Hartford, and Washington.
REUTERS | TRIP B
