Fourteen Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists expressed their
support this week for fellow Pulitzer Prize winner James Risen, who has
declined to testify in a case against a CIA officer accused of leaking
classified information. A Fourth Circuit judge has not yet sent the case back
to the trial judge, so it’s still not clear whether the government will force
Risen to testify.
The journalists who issued statements earned Pulitzers while
working at a range of publications from The New York Times and The Washington
Post to The Gazette in Colorado Springs and Montana’s Great Falls Tribune.
A copy of the journalists’ individual statements is available to
read on Roots Action’s website.
The group plans to deliver a petition to the Justice Department with
more than 100,000 signatures demanding the government stop its legal action
against Risen.
Meanwhile, four new co-sponsors signed on to a Senate bill that
would protect reporters from being compelled to testify about their sources.
More than 40 states have such laws in place, but there is no federal
equivalent.
In June, a coalition comprised of more than 70 news
organizations and press freedom groups sent a letter urging the chamber to
pass a shield law for journalists.