In an interview with Maureen Dowd, a columnist at the New York Times, in August last year, James Risen—a journalist with the New York Times himself and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner—described Barack Obama as “the greatest enemy to press freedom in a generation.” About six months later, on 18 February 2015, the investigative reporter repeated that charge in a tweet, responding to a speech by US Attorney General Eric Holder in which Holder argued that press leaks were doing more damage than good to the cause of national security.
Given Holder’s speech today, I repeat: The Obama Administration is the greatest enemy of press freedom in a generation.
— James Risen (@JamesRisen) February 18, 2015
Describing the Attorney General as “the nation’s top censorship officer,” Risen tweeted:
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