Monday, January 29, 2007

Help Journalist Fight Army Subpoena

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Help Journalist Fight Army Subpoena

Hi all:

As you may know, I've been subpoenaed by the Army totestify about an interview I did with 1st Lt. EhrenWatada, the first officer to publicly refuse to deployto Iraq.

I have taken the position that it's not a journalist'sjob to participate in the government prosecution ofpersonal, political speech, and that the subpoenaserode the barrier between press and government, chillspeech, stifle debate and subvert the notion of apress free of government meddling.

I've gotten really amazing and diverse support: fromthe National Press Club issuing a release last weekdenouncing the subpoenas, to antiflag posting amessage on their blog doing the same! I'm asking thatyou all do two things, if you are willing to spend afew quick minutes lending a hand.

First, go to the web site http://www.defendthepress.org/ to send a letter to theArmy and the Pentagon asking that they drop thesubpoenas of journalists in the Lt. Watadacourt-martial. Also, you can sign onto the journalistopen letter calling on the Army to "back off." :)

Second, please send an announcement/alert to your ownfriends, colleagues, lists and networks. I would loveto be be able to deliver thousands of emails andletters to the Army by the end of the week, and Ireally need help getting that accomplished! I'vedrafted up a sample alert below. Feel free to edit atwill and send out to whomever you'd like!

Also, free free to call or email off list if you haveany thoughts or questions.Thanks so much for your help with this!

Sarah Olson
http://www.freepresswg.org/
http://www.defendthepress.org/

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