Tag: press freedoms

Barrett Brown, a Texas-based journalist who was imprisoned by federal authorities following a raid of both his apartment and his mother’s house amid his own investigations into government defense contractors, was released from prison Tuesday, five months prior to his scheduled release date. Brown, who pleaded guilty two years ago to three Internet threats, accessory after the fact, and interfering with the execution of a search warrant, had originally been charged with more than a dozen crimes and faced more than 100 years in prison. A majority of the charges were dropped after his lawyers challenged the wisdom of the allegations in court.

Freeman, the executive director of the New York Committee on Open Government, reflects on seven governors and their records for transparency.

Recent arrests of journalists covering protests in Missouri have put a spotlight on press freedoms in the US. A NYT reporter could go to jail if he refuses to reveal his anonymous source in a book he wrote in 2006.

"Just the threat of getting charged is enough to chill that journalistic practice. It sends a real scary message to those people who do this for a living.”