Tribune-Star — T-S Editorial: Nothing to fear in proposed ‘shield law’

• By: ASNE staff
• On: 07/31/2008 13:46:33
• In: Shield law editorials

Tribune-Star, Terre Haute, Ind.
July 26, 2008

TERRE HAUTE Bush administration only real opponent standing in the way

Let’s see, John McCain and Barack Obama are in favor of it. Forty-two (of 50) state attorneys general in the nation are, too. Last fall, 398 members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of it while only 21 voted against. Then, the Senate Judiciary Committee weighed in, 15-4, also in favor.

What is it?

A “shield law” that would extend some of the same protection for journalists and their confidential sources in federal courts that court systems in 49 states provide. The law’s official title is The Free Flow of Information Act, and soon it may come before the entire Senate for a vote.

Sound like a slam dunk? It’s not.

Opposition from the White House and the Bush administration’s Department of Justice is fierce. U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey has predicted that the law would help create “a safe haven for foreign spies and terrorists” and would “wreak havoc on national security” and federal investigations.

If Mukasey’s dire warnings seemed plausible, you would think a few more than 21 U.S. representatives might have noticed. You would think more than four members of the Senate Judiciary would have as well.

As for 42 state attorneys general Republican and Democrat what’s the explanation? That they’re all either naive or incompetent?

The many, many legislators and attorneys who support the federal shield law know it offers plenty of safeguards and exceptions to ensure that national security is not compromised. None of these people knows better than two Indiana members of Congress, Sen. Richard Lugar and Rep. Mike Pence.

Both are Republicans and both have long supported the Free Flow of Information Act. As Pence said in October, after 397 of his colleagues joined him in the mass thumbs-up vote, such official protection is not designed to put reporters above the law, “it’s about protecting the public’s right to know.”

Well aware of a spate of jailed journalists who would not disclose confidential sources and of the Bush administration’s near-mania for secrecy Pence also reminded Americans that “the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press.”

The White House and Justice Department’s scare campaign against the federal shield law may convince a sufficient number of senators to vote against it. One of them will not be Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter, yet another Republican. Along with Lugar, McCain and Obama, Specter isn’t buying the “safe haven for terrorists” bit. As he told the New York Times in May:

“I’ve been around a while, and I’ve never seen such an avalanche of letters coordinated in such an unrealistic, emotional, unwarranted attack on a piece of legislation.”

In other words, in this post-911 world, U.S. citizens have a fair number of very real things to fear and dread. Senate Bill 2035 is not remotely among them.