“Journalism Is Not a Crime”

FRONTLINE is among the news organizations which have signed the letter below. It was sent to Secretary of State John Kerry this evening.

Dear Secretary Kerry:

Journalism is not a crime. Yet Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian has been imprisoned by Iran since July 2014 for doing his job. Iran has never offered any evidence that even makes a pretense of justifying this imprisonment. We know you agree that Iran should release Jason and on behalf of our organizations and journalists around the world, we are writing to urge you to maintain your efforts to forge a path to that release.

Americans are fortunate to live in a nation that respects the role of reporters and the tenets of journalism. As journalists, we understand how central an informed citizenry is to a well functioning democracy. The need for information does not stop at the water’s edge. Many of our organizations employ journalists who, like Jason, operate in countries, like Iran, that do not always hold a high regard for the free flow of information. We understand the risks involved, and accept them in fulfilling our commitment to provide Americans and audiences worldwide with the information they need to make informed decisions.

At the same time, we depend on The United States and other democratic countries to stand behind the values that Jason represents. Independent journalism is recognized as a fundamental human right. Iran should recognize this, too, and free Jason. The United States has considerable leverage with Iran right now to press that point, and we urge you to continue to do so.

Sincerely,

Stephen J. Adler President and Editor-in-Chief Reuters

Raney Aronson-Rath Executive Producer FRONTLINE

Dean Baquet Executive Editor The New York Times

Bruce D. Brown Executive Director Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Kathleen Carroll Senior Vice President and Executive Editor The Associated Press

Steve Coll Dean, Graduate School of Journalism Columbia University

Stephen Engelberg Editor-in-Chief ProPublica

Jeffrey Fager Executive Producer 60 Minutes

Pamela B. Fine President American Society of News Editors

Susan Glasser Editor POLITICO

James Goldston President ABC News

Anders Gyllenhaal Vice President, News and Washington Editor McClatchy

Sara Just Senior Vice President, WETA & Executive Producer PBS NewsHour

Andrew Lack Chairman NBC News and MSNBC

Davan Maharaj Editor The Los Angeles Times

John Micklethwait Editor-in-Chief Bloomberg L.P.

Jason Mojica Editor-in-Chief VICE News

Michael Oreskes Senior Vice President of News and Editorial Director NPR

David Remnick Editor The New Yorker

David Rhodes President CBS News

Robert J. Rosenthal Executive Director The Center for Investigative Reporting

Ben Smith Editor-in-Chief BuzzFeed

Marty M. Steffens North America Chair International Press Institute

Mike Wilson Editor Dallas Morning News

Jeff Zucker President CNN Worldwide