{"id":46923,"date":"2013-05-28T09:39:39","date_gmt":"2013-05-28T08:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/?p=46923"},"modified":"2017-05-09T09:57:37","modified_gmt":"2017-05-09T08:57:37","slug":"groups-call-us-justice-department-actions-appalling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/?p=46923","title":{"rendered":"Groups call US Justice Department actions ‘appalling’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Attorney

Attorney General Eric Holder and Deputy Attorney General James Coles are under fire for a subpeona of Associated Press telephone records. (Photo: DOJ)<\/p><\/div>\n

A group of organisations sent a letter on 24 May to US Attorney General Eric Holder demanding a full and transparent report on the Department of Justice’s secret investigations into journalists and whistleblowers.<\/p>\n

Craig Aaron, president of Free Press, called the Justice Department’s actions “appalling”. <\/p>\n

“This is not just a matter of concern for journalists or newsrooms; it’s an issue at the heart of our democracy”, Aaron said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The issue unfolded as the Justice Department sought out the source of government leaks by seizing phone records from Associated Press reporters. The records were obatined through a secret subpeona, which did not give the AP the normal right to repsond to the request. The records included office and personal lines for the reporters. The Justice Department has yet to officially inform the AP why it had sought the records.<\/p>\n

The full text of the letter: <\/p>\n

May 24, 2013<\/p>\n

Attorney General Eric Holder
\nDeputy Attorney General James M. Cole<\/p>\n

U.S. Department of Justice
\n950 Pennsylvania Ave.
\nWashington, D.C. 20530<\/p>\n

Dear Sirs:<\/p>\n

More than 50 journalism and press organizations recently wrote you to voice grave concerns about the Justice Department\u2019s subpoena of telephone records belonging to Associated Press reporters and editors. We write today as a coalition of civil rights, public interest, transparency and media reform groups to express similar concerns.<\/p>\n

Your actions have threatened press freedom \u2014 and endangered the health of our democracy. As groups working to strengthen democratic institutions and foster more open government, we are deeply concerned that your agency\u2019s actions will hinder efforts to make government more transparent and accountable to the public.<\/p>\n

Following years of aggressive leak investigations, the Justice Department\u2019s overreaching subpoena of AP phone records sets a dangerous precedent. Furthermore, it appears to violate the Department\u2019s own rules and guidelines. The impact of the Justice Department\u2019s actions is already being felt. AP CEO Gary Pruitt reports that sources are now less willing to talk to reporters. And journalists from newsrooms large and small have noted the chilling effects on their coverage of the government.<\/p>\n

The latest news suggests that the subpoenas were even broader than initially reported. In addition, details are emerging about a case in which the Justice Department also seized phone records from reporters at Fox News and labeled one of its journalists a \u201cco-conspirator\u201d for simply doing his job.<\/p>\n

These troubling developments raise real questions about the scope of the Department\u2019s surveillance of journalists. At a recent congressional hearing, Mr. Holder, you couldn\u2019t recall how many times the Justice Department has subpoenaed journalists\u2019 records. We need to know the full extent of your Department\u2019s crackdown against journalists.<\/p>\n

In the digital age, reporting is no longer confined to America\u2019s traditional newsrooms. As such, threats to press freedom threaten anyone who seeks to share information about official actions using a cellphone, social media service or website. The Obama administration promised a new era of openness and transparency. Your actions, which expand secrecy and intimidate those trying to shed more light on our government, run counter to that promise.<\/p>\n

We demand a full accounting of the Justice Department\u2019s targeting of journalists and whistleblowers. We need this information so that we can advocate for appropriate action to protect everyone\u2019s constitutional rights and push for stronger legal standards to protect all types of information gathering and sharing.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department must explain its overreach in this matter. Furthermore, we call on the Department to stop violating its existing rules and cease targeting of individuals and organizations reporting on government activity.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

ACCESS
\nAlliance for Women in Media
\nAmerican Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression
\nAmerican Civil Liberties Union
\nAmerican Library Association
\nThe Banyan Project
\nBrave New Films
\nCenter for Democracy and Technology
\nColorOfChange.org
\nThe Committee to Protect Journalists
\nCommon Cause
\nCommunications Workers of America
\nCREDO Action
\nCultureStrike
\nDefending Dissent Foundation
\nDigital Media Law Project
\nElectronic Frontier Foundation
\nFairness & Accuracy In Reporting
\nFreedom of the Press Foundation
\nGeorgia First Amendment Foundation
\nIndyMedia
\nInvestigative News Network
\niSolon.org
\nKaty’s Exposure Blog
\nKnowledge Ecology International
\nLAMP: Learning About Multimedia Project
\nMedia Alliance
\nThe Media Consortium
\nMedia Mobilizing Project
\nMine Safety and Health News
\nMuckRock
\nNational Alliance for Media Arts and Culture
\nNational Association of Black Journalists
\nNational Coalition Against Censorship
\nNational Federation of Community Broadcasters
\nNational Freedom of Information Coalition
\nNational Hispanic Media Coalition
\nNational Priorities Project
\nNative Public Media
\nThe Newspaper Guild-CWA
\nOpenTheGovernment.org
\nPark Center for Independent Media
\nParticipatory Politics Foundation
\nPEN American Center
\nPersonal Democracy Media
\nProject Censored
\nProject On Government Oversight
\nPrometheus Radio Project
\nPublic Record Media
\nRootsAction.org
\nSociety of Professional Journalists
\nSunlight Foundation
\nTully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University
\nUnited Republic
\nTheUptake.org
\nUtah Foundation for Open Government
\nWashington Civil Rights Council
\nWomen In Media & News
\nWomen, Action & the Media
\nWomen’s Media Center
\nWRFN, Radio Free Nashville
\nWriters Guild of America, East<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of organisations sent a letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder demanding a full and transparent report on the Department of Justice’s secret investigations into journalists and whistleblowers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[744],"tags":[1270,350,5555,7403,5554],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46923"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46923"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47456,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46923\/revisions\/47456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}