Sanctions against media threaten public's right to know

[AnIndependentTexan]

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=18258

Information freeze
Sanctions against media threaten public's right to know


WASHINGTON -- Dear citizens, are you feeling the chill?
There is a quiet campaign being waged against your right to know things. God forbid that ordinary folks should learn more about what government officials and others among the powerful might be up to. Consider a few episodes of a larger story.

In Rhode Island, Jim Taricani, a television reporter, has been sentenced to six months of home confinement for his refusal to say who leaked him a secret FBI videotape of a top aide to former Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. taking a bribe. The home confinement -- a sentence issued even after Taricani's source had outed himself -- was supposed to be a compassionate gesture. Taricani, 55, had a heart transplant in 1996 and jail time might have jeopardized his health.

Some compassion. As The Associated Press reported earlier this week, "Taricani is not allowed to go outside of his North Kingstown home -- not even to his back yard. He can seek medical care, but he can't work, use the Internet or appear on radio or television. He must wear a strap around his ankle so that his movements can be monitored."

This is the reward for giving the public evidence that a leading politician was on the take. Feel the chill yet?

Last week, Army officials barred Denver Post reporters from Fort Carson in Colorado. Were the scribes getting in the way of our troops? Nope. The Army was angry because the newspaper had published a story about soldiers who were unhappy with their health care.

Lt. Col. David Johnson, Fort Carson's public affairs spokesman, said the paper faced temporary suspension of its journalistic rights "as a direct result of Fort Carson not being given fair and balanced treatment in a story that appeared on Dec. 5, 2004." The Denver Post reported on mentally and physically ill National Guard and Army Reserve members who said they were being pushed out of the service without disability pay.

Fort Carson's ban was subsequently lifted, but the message was sent.

[GetTheRightVote]

1. We must help the journalist to keep freedom of the press in USA

WE must organize with in DU and beyond to be a force to recken with.

[pleiku52cab]

2. Unfortunately, it can be a two edged sword

That bastard Novak is still hiding behind freedom of the press to protect those slime bags who 'outed' Valerie Palmer(sp?).

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. har, har, har. This is funny. They should have used their rights

when they had the chance. Now, no one cares to help them out.