Obama says attorney general will review guidelines in media leaks investigations

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says Attorney General Eric Holder will review Justice Department policy on leaks investigations involving the news media.

Obama says in a speech on counterterrorism Thursday he is troubled by the idea that leaks investigations may chill the investigative journalism that he says holds government accountable.

In recent weeks, the administration has acknowledged secretly seizing portions of two months of phone records from The Associated Press and reading the emails of Fox News reporter James Rosen in separate investigations about the publication of government secrets.

The president says the government has to strike the right balance between security and an open society. He says Holder will meet with representatives of media organizations and report back to him by July 12.