Freedom of Information
· In early April, all three presidential
candidates publicly backed Senate legislation (S. 2035) for a federal shield
law to protect confidential sources and the public’s right to know.
· Last October, the House passed similar
legislation (H.R. 2102) by an overwhelming, bipartisan margin of 398 to 21, and
the Senate Judiciary Committee passed S. 2035 by a 15-4 vote.
· As this bipartisan track record demonstrates,
support for this important legislation is not a Republican or Democrat issue.
· It is a critical recognition from
opposite sides of the political spectrum that hauling journalists to jail or
personally bankrupting them to reveal their confidential sources is not the
American way.
· S. 2035 is not a free pass for the
press. The bill provides a qualified privilege
with exceptions for national security, personal safety and law enforcement
reasons.
· The sponsors of S. 2035 have made recent
changes to the committee-passed bill in a good faith effort to address Bush
Administration concerns. For example,
the compromise bill:
- narrows the definition
of a journalist to ensure the privilege only applies to legitimate news-gatherers;
- expressly
provides that courts may consider government submissions under seal and
not in public to avoid the inappropriate release of classified information
in open court; and
- provides
an expedited appeals process for the government or a covered person
challenging a federal court’s ruling on a media subpoena.
· Now is the time for the Senate to act. One only needs to look at the aggressive
actions taken against Toni Locy, a former USA Today journalist and now
university professor, to confirm this fact.
· A federal judge ordered Ms. Locy to
personally pay contempt fines up to $5000 a day for refusing to reveal her
confidential sources in Dr. Steven Hatfill’s Privacy Act lawsuit against the
federal government. And, in an
unprecedented move, the judge prohibited anyone, including her former employer
or even her own family, from helping her pay the fines.
· A three-judge panel stayed the fines
pending Ms. Locy’s appeal, but all around the nation, this ruling sent a
chilling message to journalists, whistleblowers and other confidential
sources.
· The Locy case reflects a growing trend
of reporters being subpoenaed or threatened for their confidential sources by
civil litigants and federal prosecutors. And it is this trend that threatens investigative journalism and
underlines the need for a federal shield law.
· Forty-nine states and the
District
of Columbia recognize a reporter’s privilege through
laws or judicial decisions, but no uniform federal standard exists to
govern when confidential source information can be sought from reporters.
· Groundbreaking
stories, such as conditions at
Walter
Reed
Medical
Center, the Enron scandal
and steroid abuse in Major League Baseball, would not have been known to the
public – or to the Congress – without confidential sources.
· Please vote “YES” on S. 2035 – the
Federal Shield Bill – when it comes up in the Senate and vote “NO” on any
amendments that would weaken the well-reasoned protections in bill. I look forward to hearing back from you on
your position on the bill.
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As a journalist, you know the importance of open government. You and your news organization work hard to gain access to government records and meetings so that you can keep your community informed. You play a critical role in our democracy.
Now you have an opportunity to let your community know why open government is important to them. You can participate in Sunshine Week 2008, the national campaign for open government that takes place March 16-22.
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Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Young, and Members of the Committee, I am Barbara Cochran, President of the Radio-Television News Directors Association. Thank you for inviting me to appear today on behalf of the 3,000 electronic journalists, educators, students and executives who comprise RTNDA, the world’s largest professional organization devoted exclusively to electronic journalism.
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