(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is alarmed at both a Justice Department letter to Congress opposing any federal “shield law” guaranteeing journalists the right to protect their sources, and a call by a leading Republican congressman for the “New York Times” newspaper to be prosecuted for revealing the government’s financial information-mining programme. “These positions […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is alarmed at both a Justice Department letter to Congress opposing any federal “shield law” guaranteeing journalists the right to protect their sources, and a call by a leading Republican congressman for the “New York Times” newspaper to be prosecuted for revealing the government’s financial information-mining programme.
“These positions aggravate the decline in press freedom in the United States,” RSF said. “As well as initiating federal judicial proceedings against journalists to make them reveal their sources, the government now seems to be putting pressure on Congress and trying to prevent the press from covering sensitive national security issues in the name of government secrecy.”
RSF added: “We appeal once again to the US Congress to quickly approve the freedom of information bills that were introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives in February 2005, not only to end the untenable legal status quo but also to ensure that the press can continue to fully play the indispensable role it should have in any democracy.”
A nine-page letter urging Congress to vote against any federal shield law was sent by the Justice Department on 20 June 2006 to Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Free Flow of Information Act was introduced in the Senate in May 2006 by Richard Lugar (Republican, Indiana) and Christopher Dodd (Democrat, Connecticut).
The bill would grant journalists a “qualified” rather than an “absolute” privilege as regards the confidentiality of their sources. Judges would be able to force journalists to reveal their sources only if several conditions were met. The source would have to be the only one available, for example. It would also have to be demonstrated that the reporter had information that was vital for a case and that there was a significant public interest in its disclosure.
The Justice Department letter argues that the bill before the Senate could provide protection to terrorists. Referring to the letter, the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press said: “under their reading of the bill, reporters for Al-Manar TV, the media outlet of the terrorist organization Hezbollah and named a ‘specially global terrorist’ by the State Department, would be protected from revealing their sources.” The letter also argues that justifying requirements to disclose would place “impermissible burdens on the constitutional responsibilities of the president and the executive branch.”
National security has served as a pretext for the US administration for monitoring the phones of thousands of its citizens, including journalists, and for mining financial transaction data in attempt to track the money of terrorist organisations. Press reports, especially in the “New York Times”, revealing the existence of these programmes and highlighting the dangers they represent for civil liberties, have led the government to invoke the need to protect official secrets.
In May, the attorney general himself brandished the threat of prosecutions against news media for violating espionage laws. Then, on 24 June, congressman Peter King (Republican, New York), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, urged the attorney general to prosecute the “New York Times”. His call was criticised by other representatives of both the Republican and Democratic parties.
On 26 June, Vice President Dick Cheney accused the news media of making “the job of defending against further terrorist attacks more difficult.” Cheney zeroed in on the “New York Times” in condemning the press for “publishing detailed information about vital national security programs.” “Publishing this highly classified information about our sources and methods for collecting intelligence will enable the terrorists to look for ways to defeat our efforts,” he said.
