Groups Want DOJ Answers on Targeting Journalists

Close to five dozen groups have demanded that Attorney General Eric Holder provide a "full and transparent" account of the Department of Justice's targeting of journalists and whistleblowers, in particular its subpoena of Associated Press phone records in a whistleblower investigation and reports it had seized phone records of a Fox reporter.

Craig Aaron, president of Free Press, one of 57 groups that sent a letter to AG Holder expressing their concern, accused Justice of an "appalling abuse of press freedom." Among those also signing on to the letter included ACLU, Common Cause, the Communications Workers of America, The Newspaper Guild, Prometheus Radio Project, Society of Professional Journalists, Sunlight Foundation and the Writers Guild of America, East.