RSVP REQUIRED: juliehirano@berkeley.edu

James Risen, based in the Washington Bureau of the New York Times, has refused to testify in front of two grand juries investigating the leaks that allowed him to reveal the secret warrantless eavesdropping of the National Security Agency on American citizens. Facing the possibility of jail later in October, he will speaking at the J-School on October 6.

James Risen says:

“I have covered intelligence and national security for both the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, and I have witnessed how the government has increased the pressure on reporters who try to pierce the government’s veil of secrecy. It shows that the government is afraid of the press, afraid of embarrassing disclosures. And it shows that Washington’s national security apparatus has grown so large that now, without any public debate, it is taking on the new role of arbiter of what is allowed to be published or aired in the American media.”