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Journalism students are taught that in country like the US the press is considered a fourth estate – so important to the functioning of a democracy that it is in fact, one of the most important ways in in which people can hold their government accountable.

But today, under a supposedly liberal Democratic administration, press freedom in the US is eroding faster than it can be reported on.

As the Justice Department cracks down on what it considers criminal leaks of classified documents over the government’s practice of spying on its citizens, a recent decision by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals cements that erosion by establishing that journalists have no First Amendment protections to guard their sources in the event of a criminal trial.

The decision was hailed by Eric Holder’s Justice Department which has taken aim primarily at those who cover the National Security Administration. So, not only have journalists been spied upon themselves, but now risk prosecution for reporting on the government’s spying.

GUEST: Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and founding director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His books include “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” and “Made Love, Got War: Close Encounters with America’s Warfare State”.

Visit www.rootsaction.org for more information.