The New York Times, Associated Press, CNN and other major news organizations won’t attend an off-the-record meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder as part of the Justice Department’s 45-day review of agency guidelines for leak investigations that involve journalists.
McClatchy and the Huffington Post have also issued statements saying they do not plan to attend the closed-door session with the Attorney General.
“It isn’t appropriate for us to attend an off the record meeting with the Attorney General,” Times executive editor Jill Abramson said in a statement. “Our Washington bureau is aggressively covering the department’s handling of leak investigations at this time.”
AP spokeswoman Erin Madigan said the news wire would not send a representative unless the meeting was on the record. Instead, AP plans to “offer our views on how the regulations should be updated in an open letter,” Madigan said.
Meanwhile, POLITICO and The Washington Post do plan to attend the meeting.
“I prefer that any meeting be on the record,” Post executive editor Marty Baron said yesterday. “That said, journalists routinely participate in off-the-record sessions, whether they prefer those conditions or not, and then continue to report on events. I am going to this meeting in order to represent our interests as journalists and to raise our concerns. I’ll also listen to what the Attorney General has to say. I trust that our journalists will report on this as vigorously as they would any other subject.”
