Ahhh yes terrorism. Our good friend. The be-all end-all catch-all excuse for everything. In this case, it’s the be-all end-all catch-all excuse for the Bush administration to oppose a federal shield law for reporters.
The Bush Administration Wednesday again asserted its strong opposition to a federal shield law that would protect reporters from having to reveal information about their confidential sources.
A majority of states have such a law and journalists have been pushing for federal protection, arguing that the government is clamping down on more traditional means of gathering information, like FOYA requests, in the name of national security.
At a Senate Judiciary Hearing, the fourth hearing the committee has held on shield legislation, Senator Patrick Leahy said that a half-dozen journalists have been fined or jailed for not revealing sources in the past year, while the bill has been blocked from passage by some Republicans
But Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty countered that “There is not one shred of evidence supporting the notion that the Department of Justice is out to get the media.”
Invoking national security, McNulty argued that the bill would “put a thumb on the scale in favor of the reporter’s privilege.”
He argued that if the government “cannot confidential source information unless it first proves that the harm to our national security would outweigh the public’s interest in maintaining the free flow of leaked information.
“Our national security is too important to be subjected to these standards and burdens.”
Notice the difference between what Leahy said and how McNulty responded. Leahy presented statistics about how many journalists had been jailed. McNulty, in a rather defensive fashion, asserted that the DOJ was not “out to get” the media. Well, that’s all well and good, but that’s not what Leahy said. Leahy said that while Republicans in Congress dragged their feet on the shield law, people who would’ve been protected have been making the trip to jail quite frequently.
Secondly, McNulty’s assertion that the bill would tip the scales in favor of reporters is ironic considering as of right now the law is lopsidedly on the side of the government and governments have started invoking strange and stupid justifications for pursuing journalists like the funds used to purchase a city’s police car being partially federal gives the federal government the right to pursue vandalism of those cars as if they were federal property, and the courts, as lackeys of the government are allowing this specious logic to continue.
But don’t darer ask the President or Vice President to disclose anything. Then it becomes an instant constitutional issue, resulting in a lecture on executive privilege. McNulty’s assertion that the scales would be tipped presumes that they aren’t already tipped toward the Oval Office / White House.
What’s stranger, however, is that McNulty seems to be obsessed with the burden all these free reporters are going to create and at the same time he apparently missed some Congressional testimony, particularly by William Safire:
When asked at a July 2005 hearing by Leahy (D-Vt.) whether the privilege should be absolute, New York Times columnist William Safire said no. “If a national security crisis is about to occur, as citizens, reporters have to help. But journalists and reporters are not the fingers at the end of the long arm of the law.”
This is exactly the same argument that Josh Wolf has made time and time again while the government pursues its ludicrous and unfair case against him. In that case, he argues that forcing him to turn over footage he shot at a protest would be like making him into an unpaid law enforcement officer, even though California has a shield law (which, of course is overruled by the standards and burdens of the federal government).
I would love to see a federal shield law for journalists. It would prove that the government is willing to stand behind the Constitution and protect the rights of journalists and at the same time encouraging people with something to say that may be in the public good to talk to the press with impunity.
I won’t hold my breath waiting for this to happen, but I’ll continue to hope for it.
via Lost Remote
Technorati Tags: journalism, shield law, government
