The list of First Amendment–trampling rules for Guantánamo reporters makes for dispiriting reading in today’s New York Times (7/21/10)—e.g., “If information the government deems protected is inadvertently disclosed, the Pentagon can order reporters not to reveal it.”
But perhaps the most discouraging part of Jeremy Peters’ article is the list of reporters who fell afoul of a rule requiring them to refrain from publishing “secrets” that have already been widely reported: “Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald, Michelle Shephard of the Toronto Star, Steven Edwards of Canwest and Paul Koring of the Globe and Mail in Toronto.”
What do three of those four reporters have in common? That’s right, they report for Canadian outlets. While it’s nice that our neighbors to our north are taking an interest in our government’s ongoing efforts to find a way around our Constitution’s protections for criminal suspects, it would be much nicer if US outlets found the subject a high priority. But, reports Peters:
Of the few American newspapers that still cover the commissions, the Herald is the only one that sends a reporter to Guantánamo on a routine basis. “I only go down there because nobody else does—to report on a court that nobody else can see,” [Rosenberg] said.
The news outlets can’t send reporters to cover Gitmo and the like because they are too busy covering the important stuff like Lohan and Gibson.