Well, it looks like Fox News’ Chief Washington Correspondent James Rosen will be leaving the network at the end of the year. There are little details right now, but news of his departure was confirmed on Friday. Rosen joined Fox News in 1999. The veteran reporter gained prominence when the Obama administration came after him for reporting on a leaked story about North Korea in 2013. They tried to charge him as a criminal co-conspirator in the case (via WaPo):
Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, said, “Asking for information has never been deemed a crime.”
[…]
The case centers on Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, a former State Department arms expert accused of passing details to Rosen from a classified report within hours of its release to a small circle within the intelligence community. Investigators also targeted Rosen, calling him a co-conspirator in an affidavit seeking a search warrant for Rosen’s personal e-mails.
In the affidavit, FBI agent Reginald Reyes said Rosen “asked, solicited and encouraged Mr. Kim to disclose sensitive United States internal documents and intelligence information.” He added, “The reporter did so by employing flattery and playing to Mr. Kim’s vanity and ego.”
That detail particularly irked media lawyers and transparency experts, who said the Justice Department had crossed a line by equating routine reporting practices with possible criminal activity.
[…]
Investigators pulled Rosen’s security badge records, phone logs and his personal e-mails, but they never charged him with a crime. No reporter has ever been prosecuted for seeking classified information.
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Fox spokesperson confirms James Rosen is exiting the company at the end of the year.
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) December 22, 2017
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