News/Research
06 Nov, 2013

James Risen

The U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism cordially invites you to:

Prosecuting the Press

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Co-sponsored by the Investigative Reporting Program at U.C. Berkeley

Featuring James Risen, The New York Times’ national security reporter, who is facing jail for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the Obama Administration to reveal his sources. In this rare public appearance, Risen, who won the Pulitzer Prize for exposing the NSA’s massive eavesdropping program, will be in conversation with Lowell Bergman, professor of investigative reporting at the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. They will be introduced by Edward Wasserman, dean of the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Risen will defend his refusal to identify his sources from his reporting on the intelligence community in his 2006 book, State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration. A federal appeals court has ordered him to testify and he has maintained that he will go to prison to protect his sources. His lawyers are preparing an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Risen's case is the result of an unprecedented effort by the current Administration to prosecute the press.

This conversation is the first in a series of events hosted by the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism marking the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement.

7:15 pm - 8:30 pm: Program in Berdahl Auditorium, Stanley Hall, U.C. Berkeley (east of Journalism School)

RSVP Required by Nov. 8: Julie Hirano at (510) 642-3394 or juliehirano [​at​] berkeley.edu

Seats are limited, but we will make every effort to accommodate plus-one requests.

Media Contact: Linnea Edmeier (209) 304-1341 or linnea.e [​at​] berkeley.edu