NYT’s James Risen: Obama WH Has Been ‘The Most Anti-Press Administration’ Since Nixon

Seeing as how today’s edition of Reliable Sources was devoted to the Obama administration’s 8-year relationship with the press, it only made sense for Brian Stelter to speak with one of the White House’s chief press critics.

You may remember the years-long legal battle journalist James Risen underwent in which the government was pressuring him to identify his confidential sources in a leak case. The case was finally resolved two years ago, but Risen has been on record saying the Obama White House has been “the greatest enemy of press freedom that we have encountered in at least a generation.”

He told Stelter today that not only does he still believe that, but he believes this White House to be the most secretive and “the most anti-press administration since the Nixon administration.”

Risen ripped the White House for “criminalizing” investigative reporting and said that while Eric Holder may have publicly expressed regret about some tactics used against journalists, he doesn’t think it was sincere, due to eight years of this consistent kind of behavior.

Watch above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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