German journalists and lawmakers warned of an attack on press freedom on Friday following Germany's chief prosecutor's call for an investigation against two 'Netzpolitik.org' bloggers for allegedly publishing Internet surveillance plans by the domestic security service. This is thought to be Germany's first treason case against the media since the 1960's.Netzpolitik founder Markus Beckedahl and writer Andre Meister were named in the probe for treason, which carries between one year and life in jail.The German Journalists Association condemned the investigation as an "impermissible attempt to silence two critical colleagues" and called on chief prosecutor Harald Range to drop the case. Writers of Netzpolitik (Net politics), which focuses on "digital civil rights" and was in 2014 awarded Germany's Grimme Online Award, were defiant, stating that they "will not be intimidated".The blog had in February and April published documents on plans to step up Internet surveillance by Germany's Federal Service for the Protection of the Constitution, whose chief Hans-Georg Maassen filed a criminal complaint.Talking to Germany's DPA news agency, Mr. Beckedahl said that they saw this investigation as a "clear attempt of intimidation by the federal government -- or our security agencies, backed by the federal government -- against investigative journalists and their sources." The chair of the parliamentary judicial committee, Renate Kuenast of the Greens party, also said the case was "a constitutional disgrace", adding "if there were no investigative journalism, we would know nothing."On Twitter #Landesverrat (#treason) became a top trending topic, and news website Spiegel Online said the accusation was widely seen as a "knighting" of the journalists.

The German Association of Lawyers demanded the abolition of the charge of treason for journalists.

Many commentators drew parallels to a treason case against news weekly Der Spiegel after it published a report in 1962 that pointed to shortcomings in the German armed forces.

The Hamburg-based weekly was raided by police and its editors arrested, sparking street protests in support of Der Spiegel. A court later ruled in its favor and the defense minister stepped down, in what was seen as a victory for democracy and cemented its reputation for investigative journalism.This probe comes amid continued debate over sweeping online surveillance by the US National Security Agency (NSA) revealed by fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden and the degree of German cooperation.