Of circumstances. The National Press club expressed its position on reporters covering the unrest were detained by Police Officers before being released. Other reports backed up by video taken during the disturbances show some Television Crews were hampered by authorities from doing their professional duties. This is all unacceptable, and we urge the police and other authorities in ferguson to let the journalists carry out their professional mission to report the news in an unfettered manner. To do otherwise is a violation of the freedom of press enshrined in the First Amendment of our bill of rights. Also, unacceptable, very much, also unacceptable is the threat the prison being faced by james risen because of his work as a professional journalist. This morning a petition signed by more than 100,000 persons was delivered to the department of justice declaring we support james risen because we support a free press. Those petitioners significantly include 20 Pulitzer Prize winners who declared their support for him, who is referred using to name a source for information about a bungled cia operation in iran that appears in his 2006 book state of war. We are pleased he could be with us today. The National Press club presented him an award in 2012 for his career supporting material the government would prefer to keep from public view. From surveillance to the botched attempt to give iran weapons and for resisting government attempts for revealing his Confidential Sources. I am proud that the National Press club, through its act of freedom of the press committee, has continued to support him, as well as todays petition. I would like to introduce norman solomon, executive director of the institute for public accuracy. He is the author of a dozen books on media and Public Policy and is a recipient of the annual award as well as the George Orwell award. Mr. Solomon has coordinating the campaign in support of james risen. Mr. Solomon . [applause] thank you. Here we are in the edward r. Murrow room, because it was 60 years ago that in a most wellknown and wellremembered tv broadcast, murrow said we cannot defend Freedom Abroad by deserting it at home. He said that at a time when it was essential for journalists to step forward to lance a boil of fear and intimidation that had gripped official washington for years and the entire country as well. That was 1954. Here we are in 2014, and the events today are part of i think a very strongly accelerating effort across this country to lance a boil of fear and intimidation. We do not talk anymore so much of a Chilling Effect. We talk about a freezing effect. We talk about ice cubes that congeal. We talk quite properly and accurately about an Obama Administration that seems determined to gut the meaning of the First Amendment. As the petition that we presented this morning to the department of justice spells out, is really the functionality of the First Amendment that matters. It is a brief petition that i would like to read the entire brief text to you. To president obama and attorney general holder, your effort to compel james risen to reveal his sources is an assault on freedom of the press. Without confidentiality, journalism would be reduced to official stories in situations antithetical to the First Amendment. We urge you in the strongest terms to halt all legal action against mr. Risen and safeguard the freedom of journalists to maintain the confidentiality of their sources. Well, as myron mentioned, and it was 14 on monday, the statements released on that day, and since then there have been six more who have approached us to add their individual statements. All of them are posted at rootsaction. Org. Let me just briefly emphasize that the names on the petition we dropped off, and they are on screen. They are not just names. They are an activist network. We know how to reach them. We have everybodys email addresses. We are just Getting Started here. It is all about organizing at this point and mobilizing the pressure that will be necessary to turn around what is truly a deteriorating, dreadful situation. The Many Organizations involved are only in part represented here, and folks we are going to hear from today are speaking for just one or a few of the many groups that are involved. And i want to emphasize really that we are embarked now on something that might be unprecedented, a collision between an administration that talks good and does bad and a mobilized citizenry that increasingly understands what is at stake. Today really marks the culmination of one phase of that growing effort and the initiation of the next. So we are going to move ahead now with this News Conference. Another part of this effort to lance that boil of fear and intimidation that is in doing so much damage to democracy in our country. I would like to now introduce gregg leslie. Gregg leslie is the Legal Defense director for freedom of the press. He has been an attorney since 1994 there and served as the legal director since 2000. He supervises the journalism Hotline Services and is regularly interviewed by journalists on law topics. He has served a lot of positions, is a member of the American Bar Association fair trial and Free Press Task force, and many other positions. Before entering law school, he worked as a Research Director for a washington business and political magazine, and here he is, mr. Gregg leslie. [applause] thank you, and i happy to be here to support james risen and to encourage the department of justice to stop its efforts to compel and to testify. At the Reporters Committee, we have been actively involved in this case from the start, and we have been working with the department perform of its own guidelines regarding media subpoenas. While that can feel like a sisyphean task, it is critical to engage with the government on these issues. Even incremental progress is something. But ultimately, threats like these from the federal government must be addressed by enactment of a meaningful shield law that recognizes that reporters need to be independent of the judicial system, not because they are above the law or because they want to avoid the burden of participating in the legal system. Because journalism needs that independence to truly help hold the government accountable to the people. The Reporters Committee was founded in 1970 over this very issue, the threats to reporters from subpoenas that led to the branzburg v. Hayes case. In a decade that followed, there were almost 100 journalist shield bills introduced. Action was taken up again in earnest after the valery plame incident, in which Judith Miller spent days in jail. Those efforts started then are ongoing. It takes a while to get these things through cards. In 2007 the house approved a shield bill. When that did not pass through the senate in 2009, a similar bill passed on a voice vote under a suspension of rules, meaning it was so noncontroversial that a roll call vote was not needed. The senate has not passed such a bill, but in 2009 the Judiciary Committee sent a bill to the floor that failed to win a place on the calendar, as debate on obamacare took over the agenda. That kind of sidetracked things for a while. The latest attempt passage of a journalist shield bill came after last summers disclosure of a subpoena of phone records to track down an operation in yemen and the relation that the department of justice had successfully obtained a search warrant of a fox News ReportersGmail Account by telling a court that he was involved in a crime, at the very least either as an aider, abettor, or coconspirator. That was really something for the government come out and say a reporter, by asking a source, asking a Government Employee for information, was guilty of aiding, abetting, or coconspiring in an espionage charge. When the actions against hud and fax news came to light, president obama ordered attorney general holder to review policies. A statement was released as a report to the president in july of last year. While the media representatives involved fought for provisions that would make efforts more difficult for prosecutors and lead to greater notifications to journalists before their thirdparty records were subpoenaed, we knew at the same time that the department of justice was saying it fully intended to subpoena reporters in the future if they needed the evidence to prosecute a leaker. News incidents prompted more congressional action on the shield bill. One bill was approved by the senate Judiciary Committee. Last september, almost a year ago now, although it still awaits the next floor action. The house hasnt taken up legislation at all this year. The current makeup of the house is quite the same it was in 2009. The flight over the rightfield journalist sources confidential is literally older than the republic. John peter zenger, a colonial printer, refused to disclose the authors of attacks against the colonial governor of new york in 1734. He was himself charged with seditious libel. In 1848, news of the treaty of guadalupe they had although and in the mexicanamerican war was first reported to the American People after a newspaper reporter was told of his secret terms. He spent a month under house arrest in the capital. 1896,rs after that in john morris, a Baltimore Sun reporter, claimed that Police Officers were taking payoffs from gambling houses. And he refused to name his source, he was imprisoned until the grand jurys term expired. The significance of this case is this jailing prompted baltimore journalist to push for the then unheard of legislation that protect a them to reporters privilege. The statute has been amended a few times. In the century since then, we have now seen another 38 states and the District Of Columbia enact such shield laws. It is those state shield laws that provide the real protections to journalists. The right at the federal level is weaker than ever. Thanks to the state efforts, we know that shield laws work. It is time to demand that Congress Passed a meaningful shield law. Congress must act now and acknowledge that the Government Accountability to the people comes primarily through independent watchdogs, including not just journalists but whistleblowers, as well. One of the greatest things those in power can do is enact limits on their own powers. Congress must take that step now. Thank you. Our next speaker is the outside counsel for the freedom of the press foundation. Hes a professor at Uc Hastings Law School where he directs the liberty, security and technology clinic. His casework addresses constitutional issues that arise in espionage and counterterrorism prosecutors and. Ahmed was the lead counsel in the first criminal case to challenge bulk metadata collection by the nsa after the snowden disclosures. He currently represents journalist barrett brown. He formally taught at the National Security clinic at the university of texas school of law, he was a staff attorney at reprieve u. K. , where he represented guantanamo detainees in their habeas corpus proceedings. Good afternoon. It is an honor to be here today, not only because i admire mr. Risens journalism, but what rings is together transcends the freedom of the press foundation, it transcends the impressive roster of supporters that have spoken and written in encouragement. What brings us together today is the First Amendment of the constitution, specifically the portion of that amendment guaranteeing the freedom of the press without persecution or unnecessary prosecution. Thomas jefferson once claimed a democracy cannot be both ignorant and free. The framers of the constitution believed if u. S. Citizens failed to take good care to share information completely amongst themselves, they would be worse off than they had been as subjects of the british monarchy. To that end, the First Amendment recognizes that freedom is not just a luxury, but a necessity. To allow a government to function and continue to exist, the people must be informed. Its a simple mantra for a great nation. The development of our free society is the result of journalism reporters like james risen provide. The core of our free society is that and the public persona or frontpage scoop is the crux of their profession that is newsgathering. The heart of our freedom and the freedom to publish the news is the freedom to gather the news. Justice sutherland wrote in 1936 that newspapers, magazines, and other journals in this country has continued to shed more light on the public in Business Affairs of the nation than any other instrumentality of publicity. Since informed Public Opinion is the most important of all restraint on this government, the abridgment of the publicity afforded by free press cannot be regarded otherwise without grave concern. So it is with grave concern that we gather today to confront a real threat to our nations security. For who are we if we are not secure in our ability to hold government accountable . These freedoms are not without limitation. But to be clear, mr. Rison broke no law gathering the news, broke no law proliferating the news and publishing his articles and books. Nor can the Justice Department make such claims. There is no law that mandates to the press to obtain government approval about legally acquired information. There is no dispute that such a law would be unconstitutional as a restraint on speech and would transform this great country from being a democracy to becoming a totalitarian state. Yet james risen delayed publication for years out of an abundance of caution until it was clear to him the governments desire to censor him was not a matter of National Security, rather it was a matter of national embarrassment. To be clear, the government does not seek to compel information from mr. Risen to put an end to an existing threat to stop a terrorist attack or even an ongoing crime. The government seeks information ordered to investigate an alleged leak that occurred years ago by someone else. Quite frankly, im puzzled as to why the doj needs to use them to make their case or them. You would think with all the resources expended on federal Law Enforcement, the fate of our nation would not rise and fall at the feet of a 59yearold reporter revealing his sources. And im sorry to give away your age. [laughter] by initiating and executing investigations that monitor emails, phone calls, and even credit reports of journalists, the government has made it clear that it does not fear the Chilling Effects of to our free press and does not value the dogged investigative reporting that has contributed not only to our great democracy, led to the history of mankind. Either way you look at it, mr. Risen and all journalists are faced with a hobsons choice, either to practice a form of journalism consistent with the First Amendment and risk prison or practice a form of journalism to release the information they permit them to reveal only those facts the executive deems fit for public consumption. Mr. Risen has chosen the path consistent with the First Amendment and its not likely many will follow in his footsteps. In the end, it is the American People that have paid and will continue to pay the price. Thank you. [applause] our next speaker is director of the National Security and Human Rights Program at the Government Accountability project. It is the nations leading whistleblower organization and the program that focuses on secrecy, surveillance, torture and discrimination. She has been at the forefront of defending against the governments unprecedented war on whistleblowers which of course has hit journalists very hard. Among her clients, she represents seven National Security and intelligence member employees who have investigated or been charged under the espionage act for allegedly mishandling classified information, including edward snowden, thomas drake and john kiriakou. She worked at the Justice Department for seven years for first as a Trial Attorney and as a legal ethics advisor. [applause] good afternoon. Anyone who doubts that the war on whistleblowers is a backdoor war on journalists should study the case of james risen. Threats to reporters are the undercurrent in the Obama Administrations recordsetting espionage act prosecutions of the socalled leakers. One example where the press is implicated is when the Justice Depar