Conyers supports journalists in BALCO case at ASNE First Amendment Summit

• By: ASNE staff
• On: 01/19/2007 09:37:00
• In: First Amendment

Jan. 19, 2007

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., joined the American Society of Newspaper Editors in support of two San Francisco Chronicle reporters at the group's First Amendment Summit on Thursday.

Conyers shared his thoughts with the summit, held at the National Press Club, and released a letter that was sent to Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez asking the Department of Justice to withdraw subpoenas issued to Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams. Fainaru-Wada and Williams have written extensively about steroids in baseball and a company called BALCO, the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative.

The letter was co-authored by U.S. Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., who chaired the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearings investigating steroid use in baseball, which led Major League Baseball and the Players' Association to change is policy on steroid usage and testing.

The ASNE summit consisted of top newsroom leaders, national security experts, lawyers and others concerned about the compelled disclosure of confidential sources.

Here is the text of Conyers' remarks to First Amendment Summit attendees:

Our founders believed that no freedom was more critical to our democracy that the right of American people to be fully informed by a free and open media. It is no accident that among the very first rights listed in the bill of rights is the notion that the government should not abridge the Freedom of the Press.

Critical to that freedom is the protection of reporters from government intimidation. Those who expose government wrongdoing by the government in our nation's papers, airwaves and internet sites are most at risk for suffering retaliation by that government.

It is a freedom we sometimes take for granted. However, today, it is under a sustained assault by the government. Cases which we thought clearly stated that reporters had an almost absolute privilege against government efforts are under continuous assault.

As the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, I think this is a serious matter. It is of bipartisan concern, and I think it is overdue for consideration.

The San Francisco Chronicle case constitutes a timely means of examining what the First Amendment really means vis-à-vis the practices of the current Administration. As a result, I along with my good friend and colleague Tom Davis, the Ranking Republican of the Government Reform Committee, has today sent a letter to the Attorney General of the United States asking him to consider withdrawing his subpoena of the journalists in that case.

The issuance of these subpoenas appears to run directly counter to the protections afforded to the press under the First Amendment. It is not just about a single case. We in the Congress need to examine the effect of these aggressive new prosecutorial tactics. I am concerned that the cumulative impact of these practices is to send a message that anyone who writes critically about our government, or anything the government is interested in, could end up with a subpoena, which could land him or her in prison.

I, for one, believe reporters should not be subject to the vagaries of the circuit court they are subpoenaed in, the appetite of their editors for confrontation with the Justice Department, or the ability of a particular newspaper to afford the costs of a protracted legal dispute.

Forty-three years ago, in New York Times v. Sullivan, the Court held that the media had the right to cover the activities of the civil rights movement without fear of frivolous libel claims. Seven years later in The Pentagon Papers case, the Supreme Court upheld the principle that the First Amendment prevents prior injunctions against the press.

Today, the challenges faced by journalists are no less grave. In our zeal to defeat our enemies, our government has frequently been too willing to subordinate the very rights and liberties our nation was founded upon. On occasion, the courts have been willing to remind ourselves that the import of these rights does not depend upon the anger of the moment.

However, Congress can and should perform this vital role as well, and that is why I expect bipartisan interest and support of the idea of a federal law which undergirds the Freedom of the Press that is so vital to our democracy. I look forward to working with you in that endeavor.

ASNE convened the summit with the financial support of the McCormick Tribune Foundation. It is partnering with The Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

ASNE, with about 750 members, is the largest organization of directing editors of daily newspapers in the Americas. It is a leader in improving diversity in newsrooms, strengthening newspaper credibility and improving high school journalism.