For years now, president's of both party's have been trying to infringe on the freedom of the press -- especially in the right of journalists to keep their sources secret. The right to keep a source secret from the government insures that people (especially government whistleblowers) will come forward when the government oversteps it legal or moral boundaries. But the recent actions of the Obama administration stepped over the line of what is proper between government and the press -- and could have a chilling effect on our free press.
In an effort to find government whistleblowers who exposed a government action in stopping the bombing of a plane heading for the U.S. from Yemen, the Department of Justice issued a secret subpoena and seized all phone records for a two month period from at least 20 lines at the AP offices in New York, Washington, and Hartford (lines that were used by at least 100 reporters). The government has conveniently claimed that "national security" was at stake. I doubt it. And personally, I believe the government actions endangered our free press and our democracy far more than the leak endangered our national security.
This is a very serious matter. The government should not have the right to secretly seize any records from a reporter or news organization. Reporters must be free to search out the truth without government interference or intimidation.
And it looks like President Obama knows this latest mis-step is not going to go down well with the press (or the public) -- so he is trying to get a little political cover. He has asked Senator Schumer to revive his press shield bill in the Senate, and try once again to get it passed. The bill had died in the last Congress without being approved.
The idea is to give the appearance that the Obama administration is sorry for its action, and now wants to take steps to protect reporters and their sources. I wish that was true, but sadly, it isn't. It is a very flawed bill, and if it had been in effect already, it would not have prevented the government from seizing the AP phone records secretly. That's because the bill contains a provision that allows the government to secretly seize information from reporters by just claiming it is in the interest of "national security" -- a claim the government can make at any time without having to prove it.
As long as that provision remains in the bill, it makes the bill worthless -- nothing more than a public relations lie to make the government look like they are following the restrictions imposed on them by the Constitution. Don't be fooled. This flawed bill solves nothing. Freedom of the press is too vital to our democracy to be played around with like this. Our Founding Fathers knew that there must be limits on the power of the government. Without limits on government power, freedom and democracy cease to exist in any meaningful way. That was why they passed the First Amendment -- and that is why we must now demand the federal government stop trying to intimidate or interfere with the press.