Free Republic

WASHINGTON — President Obama held an off-the-record meeting with select reporters from some of the nation’s largest print and online outlets Monday, in the White House’s latest effort to placate an increasingly restive press corps. White House officials regularly meet with reporters for so-called “background briefing sessions,” where the attendees cannot be mentioned by name nor quoted directly, but Monday’s meeting was different. Initially billed as a conversation with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, the president made a surprise appearance — a very unusual move — and the White House placed the proceedings off the record beforehand. The...

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told media editors on Thursday that he would change the way the Justice Department handles investigations that involve reporters and not repeat searches that have raised concerns about freedom of the press, the editors said. After a meeting that other media outlets boycotted because of its secrecy, the editors who did attend said they were encouraged by officials' expressions of regret, though one said the Justice Department still has a long way to go to understand how journalists work. "There was a commitment to change the department's guidelines for handling cases such as these and...

Eric Holder to media: I get it By: Dylan Byers May 30, 2013 08:29 PM EDT Attorney General Eric Holder expressed concern on Thursday about how the Department of Justice has handled recent media investigations at an off-the-record meeting with leading representatives of the press, according to those who were present. At the session, Holder and Deputy Attorney General James Cole expressed a willingness to revise the guidelines for such investigations, journalists present at the get-together told POLITICO. But Holder stopped short of offering any concrete changes to the guidelines. Instead, the Attorney General sought to assure the journalists that...

Sean Higgins thinks this Washington Post " report " on Eric Holder's widely-boycotted confab with journalists is "beyond parody." Yeah, pretty much: Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. pledged Thursday to take concrete steps to address concerns that the Justice Department has overreached in its leak investigations and said officials would seek procedural and possibly legislative changes to protect journalists’ First Amendment rights. Holder’s commitment came at a private meeting with news executives after criticism that the Justice Department had infringed on the news media in several high-profile leak investigations. Participants said he told them officials would revise guidelines...

Yesterday, Attorney General Eric Holder pledged to protect the first amendment rights of the media at a closed door, off-the-record meeting. The meeting took place with the media after it was revealed that the DOJ subpoenaed thousands of pages of AP reporter's phone records and obtained a secret warrant for FNC's James Rosen's (and his parents) phone records, emails and tracked his movement. Holder "pledged Thursday to take concrete steps to address concerns that the Justice Department has overreached in its leak investigations and said officials would seek procedural and possibly legislative changes to protect journalists’ First Amendment rights."

Bret Baier ‏@BretBaier 2m Decision: Fox News’ Executive Vice President Michael Clemente has said that Fox News will NOT attend the DOJ meeting if it is OFF the record

Attorney General Eric Holder's plans to sit down with media representatives to discuss guidelines for handling investigations into leaks to the news media have run into trouble. The Associated Press issued a statement Wednesday objecting to plans for the meetings to be off the record. "If it is not on the record, AP will not attend and instead will offer our views on how the regulations should be updated in an open letter," said Erin Madigan White, the AP's media relations manager. The New York Times is taking the same position. "It isn't appropriate for us to attend an off-the-record...

Holder Orders Reporters: You Can't Meet With Me If You Report What I Say Attorney General Eric Holder is running into early resistance from news organizations as he tries to hold meetings with their Washington bureau chiefs over his department's surveillance of reporters -- with the organizations balking at Holder's attempt to keep the sessions off the record. Holder, who agreed to conduct a review of DOJ guidelines over investigations that involve journalists, has set up meetings with members of the media for Thursday and Friday. Fox News was invited to attend the Friday session at Justice Department headquarters in...

The Associated Press says it will not attend this week's off-the-record meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder unless the Justice Department decides to change its mind and conduct the meeting on the record. "We believe the meeting should be on the record and we have said that to the Attorney General’s office. If it is on the record, AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll will attend. If it is not on the record, AP will not attend and instead will offer our views on how the regulations should be updated in an open letter," AP spokesperson Erin Madigan said in a...

Eric Holder, who committed perjury when giving testimony to Congress about the AP-tapping scandal, has agreed to talk to the press. He only has one condition: it must be off-the-record, and no one outside of the room must ever know what happened. In response, the New York Times has decided to boycott the presser, with Executive Editor Jill Abramson stating, "It isn’t appropriate for us to attend an off the record meeting with the attorney general." Well, the Democrat party is none-too-pleased with the NY Times' stand. In fact, Democratic Party Communications Director Brad Woodhouse decided to not only lash...