While what you present is a possible extreme end result it is highly unlikely, and the level of attention would have to be far above just being 'interested' in the work of the journalist. The US government does not care about the work of 99.9999% of the journalists out there and if you are in the group that they care about you know it and are probably going to be using a less user-friendly but more secure process. Contra claims by the tinfoil crowd, Google is not in the habit of giving up info without fighting against the request so this option provides very strong protection for almost all of the potential audience for this.
For US Persons anyway, they cannot get such data without a warrant, you are mistaken (I did not downvote you btw, as your interpretation is semi-common).
