The White House says President Barack Obama believes journalists shouldn't be prosecuted for doing their jobs.

White House spokesman Jay Carney says he can't comment on any specific government investigation into leaks of classified information. But he says Obama believes the questions currently being asked about how to strike the balance between protecting national security and journalists' freedom are entirely legitimate.

He says Obama believes it's vital to democracy that investigative reporters can do their jobs freely.

The questions were raised by two leak cases: A recent probe in which prosecutors secretly subpoenaed Associated Press phone records, and an investigation into a State Department adviser accused of leaking information to a Fox News journalist. In that case, investigators declared that a journalist is committing a crime by disclosing leaked information.