Press Sees Chilling Effect in Justice Department Inquiries

President Obama’s conciliatory gesture toward the press — a review of Justice Department investigations involving journalists — struck some national security reporters as closing the door after the sources have already bolted.

In announcing the review in his speech, the President said he was troubled that recent investigations, which involved the extensive tracking of a Fox News reporter, James Rosen, and the seizing of phone records at The Associated Press, “may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable.” Journalists say that chill has already set in. Jeremy Scahill, who writes about national security for The Nation, said that some sources who used to agree to encrypted chats and off-the-record conversations have recently stopped feeling comfortable with these terms. “At times it seems that being a Luddite may be the safest way to do serious national security reporting in a climate where there appears to be an intensifying war on serious journalism,” said Scahill.