Eric Holder

In a bid to shore up his legacy on press freedom issues as he prepares to leave office, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday that he’s making some changes news media organizations had requested to Justice Department policies on investigations involving reporters.

What is ordinary about “ordinary newsgathering”? That question was at the heart of discussions Tuesday between Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and a group of media representatives over rules that guide federal prosecutors in their pursuit of leaks of classified information.

Attorney General Eric Holder expressed concern on Thursday about how the Department of Justice has handled recent media investigations at an off-the-record meeting with leading representatives of the press, according to those who were present.

The New York Times and the Associated Press have refused to attend a meeting this week with Attorney General Eric Holder to discuss guidelines for journalists in leak investigations. Jill Abramson, the Times‘ executive editor, cited the Justice Department’s request that the discussion be kept off the record as a reason for not attending.

The House Judiciary Committee is investigating whether Attorney General Eric Holder lied under oath during his May 15 testimony on the Justice Department’s surveillance of reporters.

President Obama told the country that he didn’t want to criminalize reporting, and that he was going to ask his Justice Department to make sure not to do that anymore. To that end he is going to convene a panel, and urge the passage of a shield law. The question is, what will he do about Attorney General Eric Holder?

Attorney General Eric Holder is at the center of an uproar over the Justice Department’s decision to seize Associated Press telephone records, a move denounced by critics as a gross intrusion into the freedom of the press.