Twenty-five of the country’s largest media organizations have a message for the Obama administration: It’s time to rescue Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian.
Editors from around the U.S. penned a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry Friday urging the diplomat to do everything in his power to save the American reporter before it’s too late.
“Journalism is not a crime. Yet Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian has been imprisoned by Iran since July 2014 for doing his job … 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 these efforts to forge a path to that release … Many of our organizations employ journalists who, like Jason, operate in countries, like Iran,” the letter said.
In October, Rezaian was convicted by the Iranian government on charges that included espionage and sentenced to prison. Iran has released little information about the details surrounding his arrest and imprisonment.
The group of journalism school officials and newspaper presidents and editors believe the U.S. has “considerable leverage with Iran right now” to make a deal that would free Rezaian after his 19 months of imprisonment.
The organizations who signed the letter include:
Stephen J. Adler
President and Editor-in-ChiefReuters Raney Aronson-Rath
Executive ProducerFRONTLINE Dean Baquet
Executive EditorThe New York Times Bruce D. Brown
Executive DirectorReporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Kathleen Carroll
Senior Vice President and Executive EditorThe Associated Press Steve Coll
Dean, Graduate School of JournalismColumbia University Stephen Engelbert
Editor-in-ChiefProPublica Jeffrey Fager
Executive Producer60 Minutes Pamela B. Fine
PresidentAmerican Society of News Editors Susan B. Glasser
EditorPolitico James Goldston
PresidentABC News Anders Gyllenhaal
Vice President, News and Washington EditorMcClatchy Sara Just
Senior Vice President, WETA andExecutive ProducerPBS NewsHour Andrew Lack
ChairmanNBC News and MSNBC Davan Maharaj
EditorThe Los Angeles Times John Micklethwait
Editor-in-ChiefBloomberg L.P. Jason Mojica
Editor-in-ChiefVICE News Michael Oreskes
Senior Vice President of News andEditorial DirectorNPR David Remnick
EditorThe New Yorker David Rhodes
PresidentCBS News Robert J. Rosenthal
Executive DirectorThe Center for Investigative Reporting Ben Smith
Editor-in-ChiefBuzzFeed Marty M. Steffens
North America ChairInternational Press Institute Mike Wilson
EditorDallas Morning News Jeff Zucker
PresidentCNN Worldwide
