Gov’t, Press Face Off Over Use of Podcast Recordings In Court Martial Case

Journalist Mark Boal did not intend to publicly air recordings of his interviews with accused U.S. Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl. But that changed when he and fellow journalist Sarah Koenig teamed up to cover Bergdahl’s case for the second season of “Serial,” a massively popular podcast from the makers of This American Life. Now military prosecutors want to place the 25 hours of recorded interviews in evidence at Bergdahl’s court martial hearing next February. Boal seeks to prevent that, asking a Los Angeles civilian court to intervene on First Amendment grounds. He has the support of NPR, the Associated Press, the Washington Post, Fox, and other major network news companies. The prosecutor, Army Maj. Justin Oshana wrote in a court filing that the recordings are “relevant and necessary” to the case. “Whatever happens to Bergdahl at Fort Bragg, the recorded interviews shouldn’t be part of the equation,” the Washington Post’s Margaret Sullivan writes in an op-ed.