'Miami Herald' Calls For Federal Shield Law

[seemslikeadream]

By E&P Staff

Published: October 26, 2004

CHICAGO The United States needs a federal shield law to protect freedom of the press and the public's right to know, The Miami Herald argues in an editorial published Tuesday.

The Herald said the need for the law is underscored by the flurry of subpoenas issued by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald in his investigation of the disclosure that Valerie Plame worked as a covert agent for the Central Intelligence Agency.

Fitzgerald´s targeting of reporters is "an abuse of government power," the editorial says, because they "clearly" were not violating the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act. That law says persons who are not authorized to have access to classified information, such as reporters, are subject to prosecution only if they engage in a "pattern of activities" in an attempt to reveal covert agents.

Fitzgerald's targeting is "particularly abusive in the case of one of those reporters -- Judith Miller of The New York Times," the editorial states. "Ms. Miller did not even write anything concerning Ms. Plame. Both Ms. Miller and Matthew Cooper of Time Magazine have now been found in contempt of court for declining to disclose their sources."

The editorial notes that the Inter American Press Association -- which ends its 60th annual meeting in Antigua, Guatemala, today -- has called the Plame investigation "a serious risk to freedom of the press in the United States."
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/departments/newsroom/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000684699

Promises to Keep
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Wednesday 27 October 2004

....

Beyond the fact that our capacity to track and interdict the transfer of weapons of mass destruction to terrorists was damaged by the outing of Valerie Plame - and isn't that the reason we went to war in Iraq in the first place? - there is the damage done to our overall capacity to watch a world filled with threats. The Bush administration ignored the data and warnings coming from the American intelligence community before the war, because that data did not fit the decision for war which had already been made, and then scapegoated the intelligence community after their story line did not match reality. The attack upon Valerie Plame is but one example of the administration's dangerous misuse and abuse of our intelligence services. Today, the CIA is at war with the White House because of this. In no way does this deplorable situation heighten our security here at home.
more
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/102704A.shtml

[ixion]

1. actually, we already have one..

it's called the First Amendment.

I think it's great to protect reporters and give them the ability to tell the truth. However, I think using Judith Miller, who is not a journalist but a WH stenographer, is a really bad example of protecting these freedoms.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Sorry. Can't take this too seriously.

Newspapers don't always do their job properly and have been known to withhold important information from the public. I know this first hand. So I don't buy this crap that newspapers need special protection from the feds. The public needs just as much protection from a Libertarian-style newspaper which has a history of catering to powerful local individuals versus the public right to know.

[shraby]

3. I think this is being spun as Judith

Miller connected to Plame, but when the prosecutor subpoened her, it was in reference to a phone call to a charity in Detroit that was being investigated for money given to terrorists. The phone call alerted the charity about a raid that was going to be conducted. He first subpoened the phone records for Miller. This part of the investigation is an offshoot that is apparently connected to the Plame case somehow.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Thank you.

Good explanation.

[Democat]

5. When "reporters" are nothing more than paid political operatives...

Many of the "reporters" in the U.S. mainstream media are nothing more than spokespeople for the Republican Party. They would like to create a law that would protect members of the Republican Party from having to obey the same laws as members of the Democratic Party. That is all this is.

It's a scam.