AG Holder Pledges Shifts on Media

Attorney General Eric Holder told news editors in a private meeting that he is committed to changing Justice Department guidelines on investigations involving journalists, in the wake of recent controversies over the seizure of reporters' phone and email records.

AG Holder and aides said they were open to changing the guidelines the department uses to broaden the circle of officials who have to agree that subpoenas are justified as a last resort. The officials also said they were open to annual reviews with news organizations, according to a Wall Street Journal editor who attended the meeting. Those in attendance at the meeting included editors from The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Daily News, Politico and the New Yorker. The Justice officials said further discussions would be held with other editors, reporters, media attorneys and academics. AG Holder and the other Justice officials told the editors they were committed to protecting the role journalists play in reporting on the government. The department's guidelines haven't been revised in more than two decades, and the officials said they needed to be updated to deal with significant changes in news gathering that have occurred in that time. AG Holder and his aides also said the administration would throw its weight behind an effort to pass a federal media shield law, though such legislation would likely have little impact on the two cases at the center of the current controversy.