news media guidelines

“[T]he specter of government misconduct looms over the entire Carmody matter,” the judge wrote.

The new policy replaces the balancing test that required the DOJ to weigh investigative needs against press rights.

"The attorney general has taken a necessary and momentous step to protect press freedom at a critical time."

The policy change follows revelations that DOJ officials under Presidents Trump and Biden sought to secretly seize reporters’ email records.

The FBI is demanding information from Gannett that could identify the readers of a USA Today article.

The Washington Post and CNN reported last month that their journalists’ communications were also seized by Trump’s DOJ.

The Trump administration’s efforts to intrude into reporter-source relationships is more sweeping than we originally thought.

The news media guidelines, now under renewed scrutiny, serve as an important federal safeguard for reporter-source confidentiality.

“Whenever the government seeks to obtain records of journalists’ communications, it raises serious First Amendment concerns."

Biden's pick for attorney general signaled his attention to FOIA and the Justice Department's news media guidelines.