[Media-watch] AP President proposes media lobby to fight US gov. secrecy - 08/05/2004 - Mercury News

[Julie-ann Davies]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/peninsula/8619334.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

      Posted on Sat, May. 08, 2004



      AP president proposes media lobby to fight government secrecy

      LINDA DEUTSCH
      Associated Press

      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. 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."

      News executives reacted favorably to Curley's proposal.

      "It's extremely important that as journalists we continue to push for
more access," said Maria De Varenne, editor and vice president of news at
The (Riverside) Press-Enterprise. "The Press-Enterprise has a long tradition
of going to court to support access, and we will certainly support Mr.
Curley in this initiative."

      Andy Alexander, chairman of the Freedom of Information Committee of
the American Society of Newspaper Editors, also was enthusiastic.

      "Tom Curley should be applauded for sounding the alarm. We face a
growing crisis of unchecked secrecy at all levels of government," said
Alexander, Washington bureau chief of Cox Newspapers.

      Alexander said he suspects there will be heated debate among
journalists about whether news media should become involved in advocacy. But
he said journalists can shed light on the problem of secrecy by writing
about it.

      "When citizens learn the extent to which officials are keeping them in
the dark about the workings of their own government, they will likely rise
up against this terrible trend toward secrecy," he said.

      The lobbying plan also was welcomed by Lucy A. Dalglish, executive
director of the reporters committee, which was consulted by the AP about the
idea.

      "I think the media as an entity, media organizations, people
representing the public's right to know, have not been very well organized
for the last 20 years when it comes to influencing government leaders,"
Dalglish said.

      Journalists have a natural reluctance to get involved in the political
process, but it's completely appropriate for journalism organizations to be
involved in an open-government initiative, she said.

      Stuart Wilk, vice president/associate editor of The Dallas Morning
News and president of the Associated Press Managing Editors association,
said he will ask the APME to endorse the initiative.

      "I think that journalists will overwhelmingly agree with Tom that the
public is rapidly losing access to public information," Wilk said in a
statement. "Whatever the motives of the government, the effect has been to
reduce public access and therefore public scrutiny of government officials
and activities."

      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.

      ---

      Text of speech available on the Net:

      The AP: http://www.ap.org/pages/about/whatsnew/hayspress.html

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