Move aimed at placating media groups who've been seething since actions against the AP and Fox News were disclosed
Barack Obama has ordered the Department of Justice to review its guidelines on press freedom in the wake of the media outcry over the seizure of AP phone records and the threat of criminal action against a Fox reporter.
Representatives of media organisations will be invited to give their views.
Obama announced the review as part of a major speech on defence and security. The move is aimed at placating media groups who have been seething since the actions against AP and Fox were disclosed last week.
He ordered attorney-general Eric Holder to conduct the review over concerns about "government overreach". Obama set a deadline of 12 July for a response.
The decision to launch the review suggests there will be some concrete moves. Obama has already proposed bringing in a media shield law to enshrine freedoms.
Although the attack on media freedom has not captured public attention in the way that the IRS and Benghazi scandals have, the Obama administration will have been alarmed by the frostiness that has crept into relations with the press over the last week. This has been evident in the level of hostile questions at White House briefings and in critical editorials in papers such as the New York Times.
The White House will be hoping the review will placate the media and take the sting out of the scandal.
Obama, in his speech, repeated his formula that there needs to be a balance between national security and press freedom. But he changed the emphasis for the first time, adding: "I am troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable."
He said: "Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs. Our focus must be on those who break the law."
Earlier, in a background briefing by senior administration officials before the speech, one spelled it out more clearly than the president. "The target of these investigations should be – generally speaking, should be – those individuals who break the law and violate their commitment to protect classified information (and) should not be reporters. And reporters have a right to be tough, aggressive, investigative journalists, and that's a fundamental part of our democracy."
The seizure of the phone records of about 100 AP journalists over a two-month period last year was part of a DoJ investigation into the leak of an alleged Yemen bomb plot. The Fox investigation relates to the leak about North Korea's nuclear programme, in which the company's reporter James Rosen was described by the FBI as a "co-conspirator". Rosen, who went about uncovering the story using traditional journalists' methods, theoretically could be open to criminal charges.
Obama, in his speech, said: "I have raised these issues with the attorney general, who shares my concern. So he has agreed to review existing Department of Justice guidelines governing investigations that involve reporters, and will convene a group of media organizations to hear their concerns as part of that review. And I have directed the attorney general to report back to me by July 12."
Earlier in his speech, Obama reiterated that, as commander-in-chief, he had a duty to balance media freedom and national security.
"The justice department's investigation of national security leaks offers a recent example of the challenges involved in striking the right balance between our security and our open society," he said.
"As commander-in-chief, I believe we must keep information secret that protects our operations and our people in the field. To do so, we must enforce consequences for those who break the law and breach their commitment to protect classified information. But a free press is also essential for our democracy. "