Online journalists: Investigators or traitors?
August 9, 2015
On Monday (08.10.2015), Germany's acting federal prosecutor terminated an investigation into the two journalists from the Internet blog netzpolitik.org, Markus Beckedahl and Andre Meister, on suspicion of treason. He said he had concluded that the information they had published did not contain state secrets.
Beckedahl and Meister had been under investigation for treason for having cited allegedly classified documents in a report about plans by the domestic intelligence agency to extend monitoring of the internet.
The investigation has prompted heated debate about freedom of the press in Germany. Netzpolitik has won a number of reporting awards for its work, including one from the German government as part of its "Land of Ideas" competition.