Trump's war against leakers shows why we need a federal 'shield law'
The administration went after Fox News reporter James Rosen, for example, naming him as a "co-conspirator" in a leak about North Korea's nuclear program. It also went after New York Times reporter James Risen to reveal his confidential source during the leak investigation of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer. Eventually both cases were dropped.
Acknowledging that the department went too far in its leak investigations, Holder put safeguards in place to prevent that from happening, except in the most exceptional cases. Under those guidelines, the Justice Department is supposed to exhaust all other means of obtaining information before seizing a reporter's phone and email records.
But with the new administration, Sessions simultaneously vows to avoid extreme measures while also in increasing investigations and prosecutions of alleged leakers.
And if press freedoms took a beating under Obama, Trump's anti-media rhetoric --lambasting mainstream media as "fake news" and smearing reporters as "scum" and the like -- signals that under his watch we can expect even worse.
What is to be done? The Watkins case and the strong possibility of more like it underscore the need for a federal "shield law" like those in various forms in most states. Reasonable safeguards are needed to prevent government from indiscriminately seizing confidential records or forcing reporters to disclose anonymous sources.
At a time when one party controls the White House, Congress and appointments to the Supreme Court, it is particularly important to strengthen the independent voice of a free press. As Col. Robert McCormick, longtime editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, said in the credo etched in 93-year-old Tribune Tower's cathedral-like lobby, news media "furnish that check upon government that no constitution has ever been able to provide."
The Tribune, where I have spent most of my working life, is moving out of our historic tower. We don't need as much space in the digital age. That saddens me as an old-timer. But that ageless Tribune credo and its inspiring message is a gift worth taking with me wherever I go.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
(c) 2018 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
