The Bush Administration is absolutely right - and Senator John McCain is absolutely wrong - on the issue of the so-called "media shield law" before Congress. The purpose of the law is to enable people claiming to be journalists to hide their anonymous sources of information even when those sources are involved in or have knowledge of criminal or terrorist activityThe bill would also give federal protection to anonymous sources in and out of government who hide behind the media in order to destroy or damage the lives of innocent people.
President Bush has threatened a veto but the media are counting on Congress to override it.
The bill puts in the hands of federal politicians and judges the ability to define a “legitimate” journalist or blogger who is deserving of federal protection. As such, it restricts First Amendment rights to a certain group of people currently in favor with federal authorities.
In endorsing the bill, Senator McCain told an Associated Press forum, “There will be times, I suspect, when I will wonder again if I should have supported this measure. But I trust in your integrity and patriotism that those occasions won’t be so numerous that I will, in fact, deeply regret my decision.”
This seems to be a big roll of the dice with our lives on the line.
My reading of the First Amendment says that Congress should stay out of the business of deciding who and who is not a journalist. My reading of the Constitution is that journalists are like everybody else―citizens of the United States―and that when they have knowledge of criminal activity, they should disclose that to the appropriate law enforcement agencies. Why should the media be above the law?
The answer is that they have the power and ability to work their will on the Congress....(read more)
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