U.S. Department of State Launches "Free the Press" Campaign

[Ichingcarpenter]

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
April 25, 2014

The U.S. State Department will launch its third annual “Free the Press” campaign on Friday, April 25 at the United States Mission to the United Nations.

The Free the Press campaign is part of the Department’s honoring of World Press Freedom Day on May 3. This year, the Department will profile journalists or media outlets that are censored, attacked, threatened, or otherwise oppressed because of their reporting. The Department will direct the world’s attention to their plight and call on their governments to protect and promote the universal human right to free expression.


http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/04/225176.htm



By JOSH GERSTEIN | 4/25/14 5:37 PM EDT


The Obama Administration is urging the Supreme Court not to take up New York Times reporter James Risen's plea to consider overturning a ruling that he must testify about his confidential sources for his reporting about a Central Intelligence Agency effort to undermine Iran's nuclear program.

In a filing Friday afternoon, the Justice Department urged the court not to take up the opportunity to declare a reporter's privilege against testifying in criminal cases and argued that even if the justices are inclined to consider such a privilege, Risen's situation is not a good one in which to do so.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2014/04/justice-department-urges-scotus-to-pass-up-reporters-187455.html

[grasswire]

1. that's incredibly ironic...

....considering Clapper's latest clamp down on U.S. press members.

[hobbit709]

2. It's right up there with the U.S. accusing others of human rights violations.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. Kinda like Exxon endorsing wind power. Or, Monsanto backing non-GMO foods.

[L0oniX]

4. Is this from the Onion?

It might as well be.

[bobduca]

5. Nope, no cognitive dissonance here!

Free the press! I can get behind that , those other bad evil countries and their press need some of that US-brand Freedom of Press! So we should be encouraging press monopolies and media consolidation in those bad, bad countries! Since that's our model for success, let's export it! Remove any protections like equal time for opposing political speech and allow the most rich to speak most loudly with their cash megaphones. Yay for an exceptionally American corporate-person-owned press!

[MisterP]

6. "'cos if it's free we won't need a budget to buy any reporters"

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. James Risen

James Risen (born c. 1955) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist for The New York Times who previously worked for the Los Angeles Times. He has written or co-written many articles concerning U.S. government activities and is the author or co-author of two books about the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a book about the American public debate about abortion.


He won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2006 for his stories about Pres. George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping program.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Risen

And now he may go to jail...
The DOJ did the request the same day as the State Dept. free press deal.