Journalists Furious at Feds Over AP Snooping

It's seen as an attempt to intimidate the media

Journalists on Monday called the news the Justice Department seized records from phone lines assigned to Associated Press offices and its reporters over a two month period "chilling" and a "dragnet to intimidate the media."

The AP reported the Justice Dept. obtained records that listed incoming and outgoing calls and the duration of those calls for work and personal phone numbers of AP reporters and phone lines for AP offices in New York, Hartford, Conn. and Washington, as well as the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery. The government seized records — which listed incoming and outgoing calls and the call's length — for more than 20 separate lines assigned to the AP and its reporters, according to the AP.

Fox News' Greta Van Susteren told POLITICO in an email that the DOJ's seizure "sounds like a dragnet to intimidate the media," not a criminal investigation.