AP chief unveils plan to fight secrecy
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| Fri, 05-07-2004 - 5:53pm |
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Curley%20Speech
Friday, May 7, 2004 · Last updated 1:42 p.m. PT
AP chief unveils plan to fight secrecy
By LINDA DEUTSCH
AP SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Denouncing increased official secrecy, Associated Press President and CEO Tom Curley unveiled a plan Friday for a media advocacy center to lobby in Washington for open government.
"The powerful have to be watched, and we are the watchers," Curley said, "and you don't need to have your notebook snatched by a policeman to know that keeping an eye on government activities has lately gotten a lot harder."
At every level of government, records are being sealed and requests for information denied, and courts are imposing gag orders and sealing documents, Curley said, speaking in the Hays Press-Enterprise Lecture series.
In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the news media remained largely silent on important issues, including secret arrests of suspects of Middle Eastern descent and closed deportation hearings, he said.
"That was an extraordinary time for the country," he said. "It's entirely understandable - and reasonable - that the press and public were willing to step back for a time and give the government room to address an unknown and frightening threat."
But Curley warned that a continued relaxation of vigilance by news organizations "could become a dangerous habit if we allow it to take hold, dangerous for us and the society in which we play such a critical role."
"The government is pushing hard for secrecy," he said. "We must push back equally hard for openness. I think it's time to consider establishment of a focused lobbying effort in Washington."
Curley acknowledged his advocacy proposal is potentially controversial.
"I know that some in the journalism community would strongly disapprove of a project of this kind," he said. "They believe the role of journalists is to remain strictly impartial, and that express backing for even the best intended legislation would compromise that role. I respectfully disagree."
Curley said he was reminded of a story about a man who was "so broadminded that he wouldn't take his own side in a fight."
"A fight is what this is," he said. "A fight is what our system of government intends and expects it to be."
Curley cited recent intrusions on information-gathering ranging. They ranged from an AP reporter's digital recording being erased by a U.S. marshal at a speech by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to a confrontation between a sheriff's deputy and a freelance photographer on assignment for the AP outside a Michael Jackson grand jury hearing. The photographer deleted digital images after being ordered to do so by the deputy.
"The point I want to make with these brief examples is an elemental one: The government's power is overwhelming. Its agents are armed and authorized to use force if they have to," Curley said.
He said a new nightmare for journalists is the Health Information Portability and Privacy Act, which had the goal of protecting sensitive personal medical information but wound up spreading paranoia among health institutions about cooperating with the media.
When former President Gerald Ford suffered a dizzy spell on a California golf course a year ago and was rushed to a hospital in Rancho Mirage, he said the hospital wouldn't even confirm Ford was there. Curley quoted a senior editor as saying later: "All I could think of was this: One of five living former presidents might no longer be living and we have no idea."
Curley praised the vigorous efforts of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Society of Newspaper Editors and dozens of other groups that work daily to break the information blockade.
"They have raised all the alarms I've mentioned and many more. ... We need to hear them and we need to help them," he said.
Curley said AP would invite these groups and others to develop a plan for a Washington office to seek better statutory guarantees for more accessible government information. A federal reporters' shield law might be sought.
Meanwhile, he said, AP will continue audits to ensure official compliance with FOI laws. State AP bureau chiefs will monitor the status of still and video cameras in state and federal courtrooms, and legal challenges will be mounted when access is denied.
"News is our business. We are the watchers," Curley said. "Open government is the personal interest and constitutional right of every citizen. But we of the fourth estate have by far the greatest means and incentive to speak and fight for it."
The Associated Press, a cooperative of U.S. newspapers and broadcasters, provides global coverage of news, sports, business and entertainment in all media formats to some 15,000 news outlets in more than 120 nations. It reaches more than 1 billion people a day.
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Text of speech available on the Net:
The AP: http://www.ap.org/pages/about/whatsnew/hayspress.html
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It's essential for a free society to have a free press.
No wonder so many distrust the government when things are done behind closed doors that are not in the interests of citizens but corporations. (I'm not referring to national security)
I'm disturbed by the press reporting so much fluff as news. For example that program the Apprentice & the final episode of Friends. Give me a break this is entertainment NOT front page news. No wonder so many people live in lala land & don't pay attention to what's really happening.
I would also like to see more FACTS less commentary, speculation
I completely agree!
I have always enjoyed a "free" society, and unfortunately took it for granted. If we didn't get the news it was because the reporters weren't doing their job. Then I learned that reporters are threatened with being shut out for printing information that this administration didn't want made public. Without sources you loose your job, what reporter wants to face being shunned. Then there are people like Bob Novac who do the administrations bidding, but don't have to reveal their sources. I learn from foreign newspapers that this administration is ignoring Congressional limits in its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Today, I don't take open access for granted, and am afraid I am in the minority--we may end up in a fascist state without knowing it. I am not expecting to be pleased with the Supreme Court's ruling on Cheney's energy conference. We have no idea how many Americans have been retained without access to the courts.