Last Updated: August 28, 2001
Printer-friendly version
RESTON, Va. - The American
Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) has announced its strong opposition to proposed
legislation that would essentially create an "Official Secrets Act" that would
be both unnecessary and a danger to First Amendment freedoms.
The measure, a proposed
amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Act by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.),
would greatly broaden who could be prosecuted for leaking information. It could
go before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence as early as Sept. 5. The
amendment would make it a felony for an active or retired government employee
to willfully disclose classified information to someone not authorized to have
that information.
"This frightening bill
deserves far more scrutiny than can be offered in a hearing next week because
it will inevitably chill interaction between the government and the public,"
said ASNE President Tim J. McGuire, editor of the Star Tribune, Minneapolis.
"We have not had an Official Secrets Act in times of war or the Cold War and
we do not need one now."
Currently, criminal prosecution
for releasing classified information requires that the information relate to
the national defense and that the individual leaking the information believes
that it would be used to injure the United States. ASNE believes the current
laws are sufficient and that the new legislation would deter government whistleblowers
from coming forward with information about government abuses and excesses.
"Congress needs to carefully
evaluate the reality that this legislation would deter whistleblowers and that
means stories like the Pentagon papers, human rights abuses and the Iran-Contra
affair would have never come to the attention of the public. This bill is not
what we want America to be all about," McGuire said.
"This is the sort of legislation
that has great appeal to many on first glance, but comes with huge hidden consequences
that people need to understand," said Anders Gyllenhaal, executive editor of
The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., who chairs ASNE's Freedom of Information
Committee. "When you start taking it apart and looking at what it would accomplish
against what it would cost in openness, not only is there no true need for this
bill but it would set us back enormously.''
ASNE, with about 850 members,
is the largest organization of directing editors of daily newspapers in the
Americas. It is a leader in improving diversity in newsrooms, strengthening
newspaper credibility and improving high school journalism.
To see what ASNE members
have to say about the proposed legislation, click
here.
