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The News Media & The Law |
Fall 2003 (Vol. 27, No. 4), Page 48. |
Open & Shut
A recent collection of funny, fascinating, nonsensical or just notable newsworthy quotations.
"There is no such thing as democracy in the dark."
-- Arnold Schwarzenegger, then-California gubernatorial
candidate, in a Sept. 18 speech touting his support of
stronger public disclosure laws. The following day, a
spokesman for Schwarzenegger admitted that all of the
actor's campaign workers were required to sign a
confidentiality agreement.
"Our business is to report news, not to slam the door on
it."
-- Steve Huntley, editorial page editor of The Chicago
Sun-Times, in support of Robert Novak's July 14 column in
which the name of an undercover CIA agent was
reported.
"There is a high level of public interest in this
question, and I'm not sure I understand why everything
must be kept confidential."
-- Jane Harman, ranking Democrat on the House
Intelligence Committee, on releasing reports to the public
detailing the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq.
"This is kind of bad news."
-- Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters
Committee, on a federal judge's order that five reporters
reveal confidential sources used in stories written about
Wen Ho Lee.
"I have no idea whether we'll find out who the leaker is,
partially because, in all due respect to your profession,
you do a very good job of protecting the leakers."
-- President George W. Bush, speaking with reporters
after an Oct. 7 cabinet meeting.
"I think transparency in government works. Whenever you
have to use a Freedom of Information request on a
government body, there is no excuse. I mean what is this,
national security?"
-- Massachusetts State Sen. Mark Montigny, responding to
reports that state officials were 33 days late in
responding to FOI Act requests for environmental tests
done on shellfish beds in Buzzards Bay.
"No prosecutor should have access to any reporter's notes,
no matter what the investigation is. I don't like it when
the government investigates reporter's sources or
reporters."
-- Carl Bernstein, former Washington Post reporter, on
efforts by the Justice Department to uncover the source
that leaked the name of a CIA agent to the press.
"It doesn't affect you unless you're a terrorist or a
criminal."
-- FBI agent Louis Flores, in defense of the USA
PATRIOT Act, at a Sept. 24 debate at California State
University, Fullerton.
"It is the government's responsibility to keep the
government's secrets secret. It is not the press'
responsibility. [O]ur basic obligation, then, is to share
information with the public."
-- Washington Post columnist David Broder, on "Meet the
Press" Oct. 5.
"No one believes in our First Amendment civil liberties
more than this administration."
-- Attorney General John Ashcroft, in a Sept. 15 speech
to the National Restaurant Association in Washington,
D.C.
© 2003 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
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