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Recent Press Releases Return to IRE Press Releases FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: April 20, 2006 IRE opposes FBI search of Anderson's records COLUMBIA, Mo. — The nation's premier association of investigative journalists, Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc., Thursday expressed its adamant opposition to the FBI's attempt to obtain the files of the late newspaper columnist Jack Anderson. News organizations have reported that FBI agents contacted Anderson's 78-year-old widow a month after his death. The bureau also contacted Mark Feldstein, an IRE member and George Washington University professor who has written a biography of Anderson and had arranged for the transfer of Anderson files to his university. The IRE Board of Directors calls on the FBI to cease its efforts, and expresses support for the Anderson family's decision not to cooperate. Anderson's files span more than 50 years of reporting in Washington, D.C., by the venerated muckraker and his colleagues. "This is yet another alarming instance of federal officials intruding on freedom of the press, with an arrogance that seems to grow with each passing day," said Board President David Boardman, managing editor of The Seattle Times. IRE, with more than 4,500 members, is a grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting in the United States and elsewhere. It was formed in 1975 to create a forum in which journalists could help each other by sharing story ideas, newsgathering techniques and news sources. Anderson attended the organization's founding meeting and was an inspiration to IRE members over the years. He wrote the nationally syndicated "Washington Merry-Go-Round" column, in which he exposed government misdeeds. Anderson died in December at age 83. |