LITTLE ROCK — Americans were shocked two years ago to read that wounded soldiers were being housed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in moldy, rotting buildings with cockroaches and mice. The articles wouldn’t have been written without information provided to reporters by confidential sources who spoke up because their identities were hidden.
Now the Senate has an opportunity to establish federal protections that will make it easier for other government whistle-blowers to come forward. The Free Flow of Information Act was passed last week by the Senate Judiciary Committee after Pennsylvania’s Senator Arlen Specter helped negotiate a compromise with the Obama administration, which had raised valid concerns.
This legislation will protect the identities of reporters’ sources in most instances, but require reporters to release information when it is needed to prevent a terrorist attack or maintain national security. The government would have to make its case for disclosure to a judge who would hear testimony behind closed doors. A similar bill has unanimously passed the House.
Shield laws protecting reporters from unreasonable government requests for information already exist in 49 states, plus the District of Columbia. News organizations need that same protection in federal cases. Six journalists have been sentenced or jailed in the past eight years for refusing to reveal confidential sources in federal court.
Such actions have emboldened federal prosecutors to subpoena journalists’ notes. These fishing expeditions too often are meant to intimidate. Passing the shield law will help ensure that the truth is revealed, and the nation will be made stronger as a result.
Editorial, Pages 18 on 12/23/2009