Essays /

Government Censorship Of Media Essay

Essay preview

“The government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the government.... The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the government and inform the people.” —‑U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, New York Times Co. v. United States (6/30/71) Journalism is supposed to hold power to account. That’s the principle implicit in the U.S. Constitution’s singling out a free press for protection. If that principle were respected, the Washington Post’s admission (2/6/13) that it and “several news organizations” made a deal with the White House to withhold the news that the U.S. has a drone base in Saudi Arabia would have been a red flag, triggering widespread discussion of media ethics. But these deals have become so commonplace that the story generated less concern among journalists than did the denial of press access to a recent presidential golf outing. The latter outrage resulted in a sternly worded letter of protest from the White House press corps (Huffington Post, 2/18/13). As the Washington Post explained, it was convinced to sit on the drone base story by administration concerns that exposing the facility would undermine operations against an Al-Qaeda affiliate regarded as the network’s most potent threat to the United States, as well as potentially damage counter-terrorism collaboration with Saudi Arabia. Al-Qaeda’s leadership has historically had close ties to the Saudi elite (Wall Street Journal, 3/18/03)—so the existence of the drone base was likely no secret to them. As for the Saudis, they might well be less willing to collaborate with the U.S. if their collaboration became public knowledge. But is protecting governments from the impact of public opinion really the job of journalism? Withholding important news over supposed national security concerns is nothing new. And in many cases, no official request is even needed—the decision-makers seem to have internalized the notion that keeping the government’s secrets is part of their job. New York Times reporter William Laurence, who covered the nuclear attacks on Japanese civilian populations in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, was a shameles...

Read more

Keywords

1 1/90 10/20/77 11/2/05 11/28/04 11/29/10 12/05 12/16/05 16 1945 1953 1954 1975 1988 2/18/13 2/6/13 2/7/13 2/9/13 2/90 2004 2005 2009 24 3/18/03 30 4/15/00 40 400 50 6/30/71 6/30/97 6/7/97 60 76 9/21/09 9/25/04 abolish acceler access accomplish accord account accur acknowledg action actual ad address admin admin-istr administr admiss admit advanc affect affili afghanistan agenc agent aggress agre aid air al al-qaeda alarm alert alleg allen allow almost also america american among answer anyth appeal arabia arbenz argument armi arrang arsenal arthur asid ask assert assess assess- assum atom attack audienc back bare base becam becom begin behest believ bell bernstein big black blackout blog bob bolster bomb book brief bush cabl cach call candid capabl carl case cbs censor censorship censur challeng charg cheerlead choic church cia cite citi civilian close co cold collabor collus column common commonplac communist compli complicit conceal conced concern conclud condemn consortium conspiraci constitut contemporan continu contrari convers convinc copi corp correspond could counter counter-terror counterterror countri coup court cover craven critic culpa d damag dana danger day deal death decad deceit decemb decid decis decision-mak deepli defend defi delay democraci democrat denial depart design detail dictat differ diplomat director dirti disclosur discuss dismiss disrupt dissembl dissemin document domest drone dull eager east eastern edit editor effect effort elect elit elsewher embarrass embarrass- emerg emphasi employ enabl enhanc ensur entir episod ethic europ even everi evid exist expand explain expos express extra facil fact fair fals falsehood favor fear feder flag flourish follow forc foreign forev fortifi fortun foster frank free gave general generat give given glenn gloomi golf govern graham great greenwald greg gruson guardian guatemala hard harsher hear high high-level hiroshima histor hold hour hous huffington hugo illeg immin impact implicit import impress inappropri includ influenc inform instanc instruct intellig interest intern intrud involv iran iranian iraq issu istrat jack jacobo jame japanes job john journal journalist judgment judici junket justic katharin keep kept know knowledg korea korean landmark last later latin latter laurenc law leadership legiti legiti-m lehigh less letter level lie like linger littl live look lost lule made make maker manag mani margaret mate matter may mea meant media meet memorandum ment mention mexico middl might militari minist minut missil mitchel moham mohammad moment moscow mossadegh much muzzl nagasaki name narrow nation need network never new news newspap niger north noth notion novemb nsa nuclear obama oblig observ obtain offens offici often ombud one onlin oper opinion opposit order organ ought oust outing outlet outrag overrid overthrow pahlavi paper parri part particular past payrol peac peopl perhap permit person phil piec plant point polici polit popul popular pose possibl post postpon potent potenti power practic presid presidenti press prestigi priest prime principl print prison process professor program propaganda protect protest provid public publish put qaeda quot radiat radio rate real realli realm reason recent red redact regard regardi regular remain remov report request respect respons result retali return reveal review reza right risen robert role roll russian safe said saudi say scoop secreci secret secur seem senatori senior set sever shah shame shameless short shouldn show signific silenc sinc singl sit site situat skeptic sort specif speech spirit stabil stage stage-manag standard state step stern stone stori street strong successor succinct suggest sullivan sulzberg sum suppos suppress suprem sydney take target tehran telephon terror terrorist text thing think threat tie time timesha told top tri trigger tumultu u.s undercut undermin undu unit univers unrest updat uranium use v virtual voter wall want war warrantless washington watchdog way weigh well western whether white widespread wife wikileak wikileaks-provid will william wiretap withheld withhold without woodward word work world would wrote year york