In a world where the media has so much power to change
people's minds about politics, business, and global finance, it seems like
there are some who would use this power to their own benefit. Some people have
been found to be using journalists as pawns to spread false information in
order to try to control public opinion for political reasons or to make money.
Bradley Birkenfeld, a former UBS executive, was one of
these people. He is well-known now because he admitted that he helped many
wealthy clients hide money in offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes. His
actions were not only against the law, but they also showed that he didn't care
about how the law protects taxpayer money. He talked to journalist James Risen
about his story when he was being investigated. The journalist later wrote a
book called Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation. It was about
Mr. Birkenfeld's confessions and the investigation that followed.
These revelations, which led to a big investigation by
American authorities, showed that Birkenfeld was not the only one who worked
with offshore companies and tried to avoid paying taxes. This investigation
found that almost 200,000 Americans tried to avoid paying US taxes by using
companies in other countries. There were Hollywood stars, politicians, and even
presidents of large companies who were involved. It was thought that because of
this, over $20 billion in taxes were not paid.
A few years after the expose, James Risen was awarded
the Pulitzer Prize for his investigative journalism. But he has been in trouble
before. In 2007, just before it came out, his book, State of War: The Secret
History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, was taken off the shelves of
all American bookstores. It was taken down because a book by a man named Edward
Jay Epstein came out. Epstein, a former reporter for the New York Times, wrote
a book called Enemies Within: How the FBI Tried to Destroy the Black Panther
Party. It had a lot of the same information as Risen's book, but Epstein didn't
give any names. This made it look like Risen's book was a clear attempt to hurt
Epstein's reputation. When asked about this, he answered, "I've always
thought that when I try to get good stories, I'm doing my job. And there will
be consequences if you do your job well."
In this case, other journalists, like Bob Woodward and
Carl Bernstein, backed up Mr. Risen. In a letter to the editor, they said
"The accusations against Mr. Risen are false and should be thrown out
right away. The reasons given for censoring Mr. Risen's work are, at best, weak
and, at worst, completely false. We didn't think the Bush administration would
do anything else."
James Risen never stopped believing that journalists
should be able to publish what they think is right. He was finally able to sue
the DOJ and win with help from the ACLU and others. But it took him five years
to do so.
James Risen says that his situation is not unique.
