Survey: 64 percent of reporters say Obama administration spies on them

White House press briefing.
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

New data from Pew Research Center indicates that nearly two-thirds of American investigative reporters believe their communications are being monitored by the federal government today. Among journalists who cover national security topics, that figure jumps to 71 percent.

(Pew Research Center)

Eight out of 10 reporters also say that even if they're not being spied on right now, their profession makes them more likely to be subject to federal scrutiny. This assumption is not unreasonable given the Obama administration's recent history of spying on the Associated Press and Fox News.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.