Re-A-Risen

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“Preservation of a free, unfettered press has a long history in our country, allowing ordinary citizens to learn what their government is up to and to question actions carried out in their name. . . . A big part of doing our jobs is giving our word to protect whistle blowers. 

“James Risen has done his job for many years at the highest level. That's why he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. More importantly, it's why his sources trust him. 

“I urge the Attorney General not to prosecute Mr. Risen for standing by his word to a source. Prosecuting Mr. Risen would not only send a chilling message to other journalists seeking to continue our country's great tradition of freedom of the press. It would diminish America's reputation in the eyes of the world as a place that values truth. Our country is better than that.”  

—Mark Johnson, 2011 Pultizer Prize winner, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in “Pulitzer Prize Winners’ Statements in Support of James Risen,” protesting Obama administration measures to force New York Times reporter James Risen to reveal his sources, August 2014.

• Editorial Comment: “A place that values truth.” Wouldn’t that be swell.

• See The Intercept. Risen quit the NYTimes, which knuckled under to White House pressure and failed to support his reporting. He has published a 15,000-word piece at The Intercept, “All the News Unfit: James Risen on His Battles with Bush, Obama and The New York Times,” Jan. 3, 2018.

PeezPix by Ted Pease

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“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard