Attorney General Eric Holder defended the seizure of Associated Press phone records in an investigation of leaks involving the CIA, saying that it was necessary to uphold national security. (The New York Times, May 14, 2013, by Charlie Savage and Scott Shane)
But to insure that everyone believed their statements about the importance of free press and the First Amendment, the Obama administration revived Senator Charles Schumer’s bill to enact a national shield law to strengthen protections for journalists in keeping sources confidential and to protect them from subpoenas of e-mails and phone records. (The New York Times, May 16, 2013, by Charlie Savage)
Critics have been scathing in their criticism of the Justice Department in confiscating the AP records. Gene Policinski, executive of the First Amendment Center, May 14, 2013, pointed out the lack of due process in the seizure – no explanation, no negotiation, no chance to appeal to a judge.
“An inescapable, even if unintended effect of such a seizure – and one reason such actions are so rare – is that it, in effect, turns the news media’s very news gathering process into another investigative tool of the government. Reporters become effectively recorders of contacts and information for the prosecution, not at all what journalism is supposed to be,” wrote Policinski.
With major news organizations, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press sent a letter May 14 to Holder and his deputy attorney general protesting the AP subpoena and describing how the seizure of records violated the Attorney General’s own guidelines established in 1972 and expanded in 1980 to include phone records.