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James Risen: Obama hates the press

New York Times reporter James Risen said Sunday that none of the current leak investigations would be happening if President Barack Obama did not hate the media so much, the Morning Sentinel of Maine reports.

“I don’t think any of this would be happening under the Obama administration if Obama didn’t want to do it,” Risen said at Colby College in Maine after he received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy award for journalism. “I think Obama hates the press. I think he doesn’t like the press and he hates leaks.”

Risen could face jail time for refusing to reveal his sources about a failed CIA operation, though Attorney General Eric Holder and Obama have indicated Risen will not go to jail.

Despite the Supreme Court throwing out Risen's plea to avoid testifying about his confidential sources, Risen has said he will continue to fight in order to protect his sources.

"Journalists have no choice but to fight back because if they don’t, they will become irrelevant,” Risen said in Maine.

Risen said the government loses its credibility when it claims that every leak causes irreparable damage to national security.

“I think it’s one of these things that the government has gotten into the habit of, crying wolf constantly and they’ve lost a lot of credibility on these issues," he said.

Risen is far from the only journalist to hammer the administration over its treatment of the press. The Associated Press' Sally Buzbee and former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson have long called out the Obama administration for its lack of transparency and intimidation of journalists.