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The Free Press — Free Flow of Information Act would provide more protection to the free press
- By: ASNE staff
- On: 06/10/2008 14:56:50
- In: Shield law editorials
Our View Protecting the press benefits the people
The Free Press, Mankato, Minn.
June 10, 2008
When journalists are threatened by the government with jail time or heavy financial penalties, it’s not just the media that lose.
The public, which
Our View Protecting the press benefits the people
The Free Press, Mankato, Minn.
June 10, 2008
When journalists are threatened by the government with jail time or heavy financial penalties, it’s not just the media that lose.
The public, which has benefited from and relied on a unfettered press, loses its ability to get needed information about government and industry.
That’s why a national shield law to give reporters reasonable protection from prosecution is so necessary.
The pressure on journalists to testify about how they received information has intensified greatly under the Bush administration.
New York Times reporter Judith Miller spent months in jail after she refused to identify confidential sources in the case of former CIA agent Valerie Plame. Other reporters have been threatened with jail or ordered to pay daunting daily fines out of their own pockets.
Those are the actions the founding fathers fought against when they established constitutional protection of the press. With government aggressively trying to bypass those protections, a federal shield law is required.
A bill that would provide that protection the Free Flow of Information Act has received broad support in Congress.
The House overwhelmingly passed the bill by a 398-21 margin after strong and elegant support from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said in part:
“As we protect and defend our nation, we must now protect and defend the Constitution by enabling our press to be free as our founders envisioned.”
The bill is moving through the Senate, but president Bush continues to threaten a veto.
The legislation has gained widespread support because it is reasonable providing the protection demanded by the constitution while still leaving options for the government when true cases of national security threats can be made.
Both Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barrack Obama say they would support the shield law if elected president.
But there is no need for the Senate to wait for the next election. A veto-proof majority, such as was provided in the House, should be delivered by the Senate this year.
While no one, least of all journalists, likes information to come from unnamed sources, the fact is that many stories of public and corporate fraud and abuse can come to light only from confidential sources.