Appellate court upholds Hub City Solid Waste ruling
Bond-funded projects list features major changes
Former armory tenant gets new digs with help from city
City again funding chamber of commerce
Eight vehicles being added to city fleet
Policy ignored in Personnel Board’s appointment of temp city staffer
Keep playtime safe this summer
Lynwood Rite Aid hosts free dental exams for kids
Rehab work at Sibrie Park commences
Piven prevails in pre-3-on-3 contest
Earl
Ofari Hutchinson:
Why the White House really rushed to judgment on Sherrod
Protecting sources means protecting the public
By
Kevin Z. Smith
President, Society of Professional Journalists
During
the course of its investigation into the current Gulf of Mexico oil
spill, The Associated Press was given information from the then-office
of Mineral Management Services that was not making a lot of sense.
As millions of gallons of crude spewed into the gulf waters and
the oversight by MMS officials on BP’s well was being called
into question, an anonymous source in that office told reporters far
different stories than what they had been initially told. This anonymous
source set the record straight by coming forward and speaking out,
and suddenly the world knew that this was more than a mechanical failure;
it was a full system failure.
The people hired to keep these events from occurring were ignoring
their responsibilities.
At times, anonymous sources provide crucial information to the
press. Stories of oil disasters may be the latest, but without citizens
coming forward and sharing vital information, Americans would not know
about steroids in sports, excessive military spending or food and drug
hazards. We would never have been told about Watergate.
A bill currently in the U.S. Senate will help assure such stories
continue to reach the public. S. 448, The Free Flow of Information
Act, will protect the sources on whom journalists rely from having
their identities exposed in all but a few circumstances including where
national security concerns are raised.
Five years in the making, the current version of this bill is
supported by more than 50 journalism organizations, the White House,
the Justice Department and most of your Congressional delegation.
Most states have laws that can protect a source’s identity from
overzealous prosecutors and judges, but there is no such protection
yet at the federal level. S. 448 would change that and extend the same
protections offered through statute or common law in 49 states to the
national government. Without it, stories focusing on the federal government
will not be told because reporters are faced with threats of jail time
and fines if they do not turn on their sources.
...
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