Free Republic

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...

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."