"Only in the struggle between two philosophies can the weapon of brutal force, persistently and ruthlessly applied, lead to a decision for the side it supports." -- Adolf Hitler. View attachment 29584 Obama came into office in 2009 promising a new era of unprecedented transparency in his administration. But when he leaves office, reporters may remember him for an effort that has largely turned out to be the opposite and for being what one affected reporter has called the "greatest enemy to press freedom in a generation." At a time when journalists' roles in covering different, critical conflict zones have been under the microscope, renewed attention has come to the case involving James Risen. He is the New York Times journalist who has been fighting efforts by two different Departments of Justice under Presidents Obama and George W. Bush to compel him to identify sources from a 2006 book that reveals a secret CIA plan to sabotage Iran's budding nuclear program. For the past five years, he has battled the Obama administration's Justice Department, which in 2009 took a rather unprecedented step of renewing a subpoena scheduled to expire that year. From his case and others the Obama administration has pursued, Risen told The Times' Maureen Dowd recently that Obama represented a fundamental obstacle for press freedom. "Its hypocritical," Risen said. "A lot of people still think this is some kind of game or signal or spin. They dont want to believe that Obama wants to crack down on the press and whistleblowers. But he does. Hes the greatest enemy to press freedom in a generation." http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-obama-administration-wants-journalist-115215342.html
Risen said in a statement last month that he was determined not to testify about his sources. "I remain as resolved as ever to continue fighting. I will always protect my sources," the reporter said.
