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UNITED STATES
In the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States,
there have been serious threats and concerns regarding the possibility of restrictions
being imposed on the press.
A sinister new threat involves bio-terrorism by still-unknown groups or individuals
against news organizations. One staffer was killed and three - possibly eight
- others were infected by anthrax at American Media, Inc. At NBC, one employee,
and possibly a second, have been infected. And it appears that another case
of infection occurred in the offices of ABC. The deadly bacteria were planted
in powder form in letters mailed from the outside and handled by the affected
employees, according to authorities.
Shortly after the New York and Pentagon attacks, State Department officials
attempted to pressure the Voice of America, a government broadcasting group,
not to air an interview with Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Afghan Taliban leader,
thus interfering in their editorial independence. Despite the pressure, VOA
aired excerpts of the interview.
Later, the White House asked representatives of major televisions news networks
not to broadcast in full prerecorded messages from terrorist Osama Bin Laden
and his henchmen, in order to avoid frightening Americans and inadvertently
relaying possible coded messages to other terrorists. The networks agreed jointly
to limit such coverage. This self-censorship sends the wrong message to the
Muslim nations about the values of openness and press freedom that the United
States and its allies uphold and denies the American public the right to be
fully informed.
An American freelance news photographer, William Biggart, was among the confirmed
dead in the World Trade Center. Several other media workers were reported injured
or missing. Biggart's body was found on September 15 in the rubble, near the
bodies of several firefighters. He had rushed to the scene with his camera shortly
after hearing about the attacks.
In post-terrorist attack legislation, press organizations feared that Congress
might clamp strong restrictions on privacy on the Internet by passing the proposed
Combating Terrorism Act, which would permit law enforcement officials to install
systems to monitor e-mail messages. Media groups also warned about a bill prohibiting
the use of encrypted e-mail messages on grounds of national defense and security.
Press freedom and civil liberties advocates feared that such legislation might
infringe Internet users' right to privacy and confidentiality.
It is still uncertain whether government officials will enforce a set of rules
enacted during the Persian Gulf War that limited coverage and created press
pools that at times kept many media groups from covering the war. While there
was a sense that such rules would not be strictly enforced, defense officials
cautioned government workers that they could face serious consequences if they
leaked classified information endangering the lives of men and women in uniform.
Media organizations acknowledged that the press must balance national security
with its duty to inform the public fully and accurately.
Officials also implemented other security measures, such as restricting the
flight of helicopters and small aircraft within city limits, thus affecting
news coverage, closing some public records to the public and creating new statutory
exemptions, and keeping other information from the public, including maps and
blueprints of U.S. military bases and installations and other public buildings
in the United States.
In a letter dated August 20, U.S. Attorney Mary Joe White wrote to Associated
Press journalist John Solomon informing him that the U.S. Attorney's Office
had obtained records of both his incoming and outgoing telephone calls between
May 2 and 7. The decision to subpoena the journalist's telephone record, without
even informing the journalist or AP and allowing them to contest it, was related
to an article written by Solomon on May 4 in which he quoted unidentified law
enforcement officers as saying that a government wiretap had recorded the conversation
of a U.S. senator who was under investigation at the time. Under federal law,
it is illegal for a law enforcement officer to disclose information obtained
under a federal wiretap. News groups called such action government curtailment
of press freedom.
In a letter to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, AP president Louis Boccardi
said:
"There was no advance notice to the reporter or his company, depriving
us of the legal right to oppose your intrusion before it occurred.
"No evidence has been forthcoming from Justice that alternate methods for
obtaining the information were tried and exhausted.
"The guidelines contemplate that, except in the case of the most grave
threat to an investigation, no such violation of reporter confidentiality would
be countenanced."
American freelance writer Vanessa Leggett has been held for nearly three months
at a federal detention center in Texas for refusing to hand over confidential
information requested by a grand jury convened by the federal prosecutor's office
related to material she was collecting for the publication of a book on a high-profile
murder in Houston. Several media organizations petitioned the federal court
that found her in contempt for her refusal and sent letters to government officials
calling for her release, invoking a qualified privilege under the First Amendment.
Leggett, who was jailed on July 20, could be held in custody for up to 18 months
if she continues to refuse to hand over her notes. Recently, a panel of three
judges of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas denied her appeal to overturn
the federal court contempt ruling on several grounds, including that it was
unclear that she qualified as a journalist under the law. Media organizations
feared the case could set a negative precedent.
In September, an Appellate Panel of Judges in Louisiana denied the petitions
of several media organizations seeking to overturn a federal judge's order that
restricts contact with the jurors in a lawsuit involving the tire company Bridgestone/Firestone,
Inc. Federal Judge Filemon Vera issued an order prohibiting individuals from
contacting jurors in the case without submitting a written application and receiving
specific approval of the court. The news organizations claimed that the order
violated the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of the press and unobstructed
access to information.
Other court decisions restricting the media's newsgathering activities included
the decision of a Florida court that kept the Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale,
from obtaining the autopsy photographs of Dale Earnhardt, the race car driver
killed during a competition in February. The Florida legislature approved a
bill that made it a felony to release the records. News organizations claimed
the bill went too far in protecting a family's right to privacy by forcing anyone
to get a judge's permission before autopsy photographs could be viewed.
The publisher, David Carson, and editor, Ed Powers, of The New Observer, a monthly
newspaper in Kansas City, were charged with criminal libel in March under the
Kansas criminal libel statute and face several years' imprisonment if convicted.
First Amendment experts said that such a conviction would not, however, pass
constitutional muster. At issue was publication by the newspaper of inaccurate
information about the incumbent mayoral candidate in November 2000. The paper
apologized for its mistake, but the libel charge
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