We share the outrage expressed by The Associated Press over recent revelations that an FBI agent posed as one of its reporters to catch someone making bomb threats.
The agency, which has wide legal latitude in pursuing investigations, should not appropriate the credibility of a specific organization in doing its work.
By for the AP, as an agent did in 2007, the FBI in effect appropriated the use of that organization in crime-fighting without its consent. The revelation came in a New York Times from FBI Director James Comey published last week, prompting demands from the AP that its name and reputation never be used like that again.
The incident could have a chilling effect on the willingness of sources to talk to the organization.
In conjunction with the Department of Justice last year secretly acquiring AP phone records, the incident reveals a troubling disregard for a free press.
