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US DoJ secretly obtains AP journalists' phone records

Washington: In an unusual move, US Justice Department secretly obtained two months' of telephone records of journalists working for the Associated Press, an action termed by the global news wire as a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how it gathers the news. The Justice Department obtained secret records as part of a year-long investigation into the disclosure of classified information about a failed al-Qaeda plot in 2012.

The Associated Press, which is headquartered in New York, alleged the Justice Department obtained two months phone records - mostly outgoing -- of its several offices in particular those in New York and Washington, and several of its reporters and editors. In a statement, The Associated Press said the Department of Justice (DOJ) notified it on May 10 that it had secretly obtained telephone records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP journalists and offices, including cell and home phone lines.

"AP is asking the DOJ for an immediate explanation of the extraordinary action and for the records to be returned to AP and all copies destroyed," it said. The news agency termed it as a serious interference with its constitutional rights to gather and report the news.

It called the Justice Department's actions a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into newsgathering activities. Protesting such a move by the Justice Department, The Associated Press Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt alleged that the government sought and obtained information far beyond anything that could be justified by any specific investigation....