Keeping the Free Press Free

The Advisory Committee on Transparency and The Fourth Amendment Advisory Committee hosted a panel discussion on July 21, 2021, on the status of the free press in the U.S., focused on the surveillance of journalists and their sources.

Panelists include:

• Jennifer Henrichsen, Yale Law School Information Society Project Fellow

• Kathy Kiely, Lee Hills Chair in Free-Press Studies at Missouri University

• Michael De Dora, Washington Advocacy Manager for the Committee to Protect Journalists

• Melissa Wasser, Policy Counsel for The Project on Government Oversight

• Sean Vitka, Senior Policy Counsel for Demand Progress (Moderator)

The public recently learned that the Trump administration seized email and phone records from CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, sparking fears for the free press and journalists’ sources. Eric Lichtblau, a target himself, wrote thoughtfully on the issues at hand in The Intercept. The DOJ obtained his and three other NY Times reporters’ information in 2020 as part of an undisclosed leak investigation into their sources. The DOJ also sought their email records — a fight the Biden administration continued to wage. Far from a partisan issue, the Obama administration was frequently decried for conducting a “war on journalism.”

More information: Visit the Advisory Committee on Transparency at https://transparencycaucus.info/about and the Fourth Amendment Advisory Committee at https://fourthadvisory.org/about.