What if those classified documents show the government has been violating fundamental rights; which is exactly the case with the NSA disclosures? Tyrannical governments use "secret" classifications to hide their actions and then bludgeon anyone who discloses those illegal actions as an enemy of the State.
Allowing this sort of government behavior to continue unchecked is what leads to neighbors being "disappeared" in the middle of the night.
Exactly. And luckily, the cat is out of the bag. It's too damned late. It's as if this is 1941 and the Hitler Death Camps were exposed. Too bad, so sad.
You are confusing whether certain actions are desirble with whether they should be legal.
There is no doubt that much information that it would be desirable for the public to have is secured in computers or desk drawers somewhere on public or private property. That doesn't mean reporters have a right to burgle these properties in order to gather the information, or to conspire with others to do the same.
My point is that employment as a journalist does not give a person the right to break laws in order to get a story. They have no right to use force, fraud or any other illegal means, any more than any other citizen.
There is also the fairly obvious fact that people will differ on what information the public "should know."
Many leftists, given the opportunity, would publish the names, addresses and pictures of every American agent around the world. They consider anyone working for our intelligence agencies to by definition be criminals. I believe most conservatives would disagree.