Proving once again that members of the press consider themselves a royal priesthood not subject to the laws that apply to non-journalists, The Houston Chronicle is demanding that a press shield law be passed by Congress.

Thanks to federal prosecutors probing a grand jury leak in the BALCO investigation of steroid use by professional baseball players in California, the secretary of state can add the names of San Francisco Chronicle reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wade to that long list of journalists threatened by potential imprisonment.

The pair's stories and subsequent book, Game of Shadows, exposed the scope of steroid use by athletes, forced major league baseball to institute reforms to prevent their continued use, and won the praise of the sport's highest-ranking fan, President George W. Bush.

Yet U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the Houston Chronicle editorial board on Friday he approved the issuance of subpoenas that would force the journalists and their paper to identify confidential sources and produce any grand jury transcripts in their possession.

* * *

Unfortunately, such attempts by law enforcement to compel journalists' testimony and pry open their notebooks and computers are becoming all too frequent. According to the Newspaper Association of America, more than 30 reporters have been pressured by authorities in the last two years to divulge information for investigations, creating a national atmosphere that makes investigative reporting more difficult and whistleblowers more fearful about talking to journalists. When that happens, both good journalism and good government are endangered.

It's appropriate that this week a bipartisan group of senators introduced the Free Flow of Information Act of 2006, a long-sought federal shield law to protect journalists and their employers from being forced in most cases to reveal confidential sources. It also would prevent authorities from mining telephone, Internet and other communications data to identify journalist contacts. The only exceptions would be threats to national security or the physical safety of the public.

"We believe the legislation establishes important ground rules for confidential sources and reporters," said Newspaper Association of America President and CEO John F. Sturm. "It is a very positive step toward safeguarding the free flow of information to the public."

Such a law would provide for American journalists the kind of freedom to do their jobs that Secretary Rice so eloquently espoused for their foreign counterparts. Those words ring hollow if they are not accompanied by the same concern and concrete actions to protect journalists at home as well.

I say NO -- in fact, I say HELL NO!

What the Chronicle demands is nothing less than a press exemption from the obligations that apply to every citizen. You know -- the obligation to provide information and material subpoenaed by a court, to testify truthfully before a grand jury or in a trial, and to not traffic is stolen or illicitly obtained documents. They seek to exempt the press from law enforcemnt tactics which are regularly and legitimately applied against citizens in every other walk of life. The seek to make journalists -- as defined by the obsolescent media elite -- a class apart from the rest of citizens. I find the notion of estalishing a journalistic aristocracy to be repugnant.

The press often speaks piously of "the public's right to know." Let's not give them the capacity to keep the public in the dark in situations that any other citizen would be required to speak.

Posted by: Greg at 03:07 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 582 words, total size 4 kb.