WikiLeaks v. "The Fifth Estate" -- Facts and Fiction in the New Hollywood Movie
Roundtable Discussion Hosted by Freedom of the Press Foundation
How we crowd-sourced transcripts of the entire Manning court martial
On May 9, 2013, we made a bold claim on this website. We promised to crowd-fund enough money to hire independent court reporters to provide transcripts of the entire Manning court martial. We knew that it was vital that the public have a virtual seat in Chelsea Manning’s trial1 …
Committee to Protect Journalists Issues Scathing Report on US Press Freedoms
It’s nearly impossible to gauge the full impact of harassment of the press. How do you measure the stories that go untold because a journalist felt intimidated? How do you quantify the corruption that won’t be exposed because sources are afraid to talk? When the impact of threats is silence, …
Freedom of Information Act Requests to the NSA Up Over 1000%
This blog post originally appeared on MuckRock, an open-government journalism organization that was one of Freedom of the Press Foundation's first beneficiaries. A veritable Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) frenzy ensued in 2013 following a series of leaks about NSA surveillance programs, recently released documents show. The emails were …
Will Attorney General Eric Holder Guarantee the First Amendment Rights of the NSA Journalists?
The essay was originally published in the Guardian. Another week and another wave of stories on the NSA and the unconstitutional out-of-control surveillance state hit the digital newsstands, showing once again why the tide is turning. Some revelations are so surreal, it's hard not to assume they're satire …
Here Are The Secret Details Gitmo Warden Claimed Could Be Used By Al-Qaeda to Attack Prison
<!--//--><![CDATA[// ><!-- DV.load("//www.documentcloud.org/documents/801592-col-bogdans-unsealed-guantanamo-declaration-in.js", { width: 600, height: 600, sidebar: false, text: false, pdf: false, container: "#DV-viewer-801592-col-bogdans-unsealed-guantanamo-declaration-in" }); //--><!]]> Score one for transparency. A federal court judge on Thursday—in response to a motion I filed in July—unsealed Guantanamo warden Col. John Bogdan’s six-page sworn declaration pertaining to a genital search policy …
NSA Claims No Audio, Transcripts or Notes From Official's Interview With Gellman, But Assertion Appears to Be Untrue
<!--//--><![CDATA[// ><!-- DV.load("//www.documentcloud.org/documents/797986-nsa-response-to-leopold-foia-for-interview-audio.js", { width: 600, height: 600, sidebar: false, text: false, pdf: false, container: "#DV-viewer-797986-nsa-response-to-leopold-foia-for-interview-audio" }); //--><!]]> Last month, Barton Gellman published an explosive story in the Washington Post about the NSA's widespread privacy violations, based on documents he obtained from whistleblower Edward Snowden. Gellman also wrote a companion …
That Time DOJ's FOIA Cop Accused Me of Engaging in a Vast FOIA Conspiracy
The Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy (OIP) is the top cop that’s supposed to ensure all government agencies—including DOJ—comply with an important law: the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).OIP is also supposed to make sure all government agencies—including DOJ—have implemented President Barack Obama’s January 2009 FOIA memorandum …
Senate’s Broadened Definition of Journalist Is an Improvement, but Still Not Enough
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s amended federal shield law bill passed today by a 13-5 vote, and importantly included Sen. Feinstein’s (D-CA) new amendment broadening the definition of who qualifies as a journalist. But as her condescending remarks about the purpose behind her amendment reveal—that it is intended to ensure that …
DHS Dumps 1,400 Pages of Heavily Redacted Records Related to Agency's Role in Drafting 2012 Counterterrorism Guidelines
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) just released 1,400 pages of emails and other internal records concerning the agency’s role in advising the Department of Justice and Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) on changes made to the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) guidelines used to collect and retain data …
