Journalism

Washington, D.C. -- August 11, 2008 -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) sent a letter Monday to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller pressing the Director to provide more information to Committee members about the misuse of so-called “exigent letters.” Press accounts last week revealed that Mueller apologized to editors at The New York Times and The Washington Post for a 2004 breach of Department of Justice guidelines regarding subpoenas for reporters’ phone records.    » read more »

April 7, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) sent the following letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, calling on her to condemn a recent ruling by a prominent Saudi cleric against two Saudi journalists for reporting what he considered heretical articles.

Barack Obama mural, Brooklyn: Photo by Erica (CC)

According to recent reports, Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak issued a fatwa last month stating that two journalists should be put to death if they did not retract their articles. Last week, over 100 Arab rights groups also condemned the fatwa.    » read more »

31 March 2008 -- A U.S.-based press freedom organization has criticized Venezuela's growing restrictions on freedom of the press, Cuba's jailing of journalists and U.S. court pressure on reporters to reveal confidential sources.

The Inter American Press Association wrapped up its midyear meeting Sunday in Caracas with a statement that accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of using attacks and intimidation to curb criticism of his government.

Last year Mr. Chavez refused to renew the license of Radio Caracas Television and replaced it with a state-run channel that airs government propaganda.

The IAPA also said Cuba's detention of 25 journalists amounted to a demonstration of total intolerance.    » read more »

Iraq Vets Plead for More Coverage of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; Five Years into the Iraq War, Few Americans Even Know the Death Toll

March 18, 2008 -- NEW YORK - On the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the nation's first and largest non-partisan organization for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is calling on the press to report on the current conflicts more thoroughly. Coverage of the wars has dropped sharply in recent months.    » read more »

11 February 2008 -- U.S. television network CBS says two of its journalists have gone missing in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

In a brief statement Monday, CBS says efforts are under way to find the journalists, whose names were not released. The network says it has been in touch with the journalists' families and asked that their privacy be respected.

Reports from Basra quote witnesses as saying about eight gunmen kidnapped the CBS journalists today from the city's Sultan Palace Hotel.    » read more »

January 24, 2008 -- Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is giving high praise today to the Utah Supreme Court for adopting the state’s first reporter privilege rule. The Utah Supreme Court adopted the draft of Rule 509 Reporter Privilege, a proposal that had been supported by the Attorney General. Shurtleff has been working with legislators, prosecutors, journalists and the Supreme Court for the past two and a half years to come up with a workable and reasonable rule that would allow reporters to protect confidential informants.    » read more »

18 December 2007 -- A new report says 2007 has been the deadliest year for journalists in more than a decade, with 64 members of the media killed in direct connection to their work.

The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released the figures Tuesday. It reported 56 killings of media workers last year.    » read more »