SPJ national update III: Digital a hit at NYT; let's see the money; and the story that won't go away. Amid uninspiring second-quarter results, The New York Times' internet revenue soared from $49 million to $66 million. The Times may be the most web-savvy newspaper in America. It's "like a battleship," observed senior VP Martin Nisenholtz. "It turns very slowly, but once it turns, look out!" More here. ... The Sunlight Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based organization seeking transparency in government, has made tracing House spending easier. Its "Exposing Earmarks" project includes a map of locales where the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education plan to spend $495,435,100. More here. ... The story of Able Danger -- the secret program that purportedly identified five al Qaeda cells and four of the hijackers more than a year before 9-11 -- continues to make news. Former ABC News Emmy-winning reporter/producer Peter Lance in his book "Triple Cross" accuses law enforcement officials of negligence in tracking down Ali Mohamed, an alleged al Qaeda agent in the United States for years before Sept. 11, 2001. The book says Mohamed was hired by the CIA and worked for the FBI, all the while feeding info to the terrorists. More here.
SPJ national update IV: California Senate passes college press freedom bill; and Santa Barbara publisher sought to derail SPJ award. A bill that would prohibit prior restraint of the college press passed the California Senate by a 31-2 vote Aug. 10 after unanimous passage in the Assembly in May. Assembly Bill 2581 was drafted in response to the Hosty v. Carter decision from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that the Supreme Court's 1988 Hazelwood decision limiting high school student free expression rights could extend to higher-education campuses in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. More here and here. Meanwhile, federal Judge Stanley Chesler issued a preliminary injunction Aug. 1 that reinstates a newspaper adviser at Ocean County College in Toms River, N.J., who was removed for what students call retaliation for stories they printed. More here and here. ... Santa Barbara (Calif.) News-Press publisher Wendy McCaw challenged an SPJ ethics prize to nine of her former employees who quit recently. She wrote a stinging letter to SPJ ethics committee chair Gary Hill that called the recognition "a smokescreen to hide their [committee members'] personal agendas." Hill said the letter did not offer a compelling reason to withhold the awards. More here.
SPJ national update V: Americans mixed on "banking records" scoop; j-profs protest anti-press policies; and what's this, they're hiring? More people, by 50 percent to 34 percent, believe that news organizations hurt more than helped American interests by revealing the Bush administration's secret bank records monitoring program, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. But an even larger majority believe such news accounts "told citizens something they should know." More here. ... The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication adopted a resolution in August identifying 10 White House practices involving secrecy, propaganda and the control of information. AEJMC director Jennifer McGill said this is the first major statement against the policies of a president since the Vietnam War. More here. ... Journalism graduates report better job prospects than at any time since the 2000 dot.com peak, according to a study by the James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research at the University of Georgia. "These students see web development, they see podcasting, they see all these technological developments as the way to the future," said Lee Becker, a journalism professor who oversaw the survey. "They are not obsessed with worrying about the fate of one segment of the media." More here.
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Can This Government Get More Secret? Yes, It Can
opinion by Pete Weitzel
Coalition of Journalists for Open Government
We're headed for our most important and toughest fight in years.
The equivalent of an Official Secrets Act -- a bill that would criminalize unauthorized disclosure of classified information -- has been filed by Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo. It is identical to legislation approved in Congress in 2000 and then pocket-vetoed by President Clinton after a strong lobbying effort by the media and others.
There are 11 co-sponsors, all Republicans: Trent Lott, Miss.; Saxby Chambliss, Ga.; Ted Stevens, Ark.; Orrin Hatch and Robert Bennett, Utah; Rick Santorum, Pa.; John Cornyn, Texas; Pete Domenici, N.M.; and Lamar Alexander, Tenn.
Have no doubt, this bill would shut down any semblance of a free flow of information in Washington. It is certain to create an icy chill among sources and potential sources other than those engaged in official, sanctioned leaking. It will further tilt the playing field in favor of executive branch control of information. The National Security Whistleblowers Coalition has come out strongly against the bill.
While the bill does not directly criminalize the receipt of classified information, it is evident from recent events that federal prosecutors would move quickly with subpoenas for reporters and their phone records in any prosecution of a government employee under the bill. And even if we had a federal shield law, at least the one under consideration, it would not protect a reporter in a national security/classified information case.
Moreover, the bill is overly broad in its definition of classified information: "information or material properly classified and clearly marked or represented, or that the person knows or has reason to believe has been properly classified."
See the CJOG web site for an extensive collection of stories on the broad subject of leaks.
The newly formed Coalition of Journalists for Open Government is an alliance of journalism organizations working to limit government secrecy and fight for citizens' rights of access to government records and meetings. Coordinator Pete Weitzel will discuss the challenges facing journalists and the nation at Fort Worth SPJ's 4th annual First Amendment Awards and Scholarship Dinner, April 13. A former managing editor of The Miami Herald, Weitzel became involved in freedom-of-information issues with the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. He chaired FSNE's Freedom of Information Committee for 15 years and in 1984 helped found the Florida First Amendment Foundation, serving as president for its first 11 years. He also helped launch the National Freedom of Information Coalition and served as its second president. As president of the Florida First Amendment Foundation, Weitzel helped draft an amendment to the Florida Constitution that guarantees citizens a right of access to both records and governmental meetings. In 1997 he was an initial inductee into Florida's Freedom of Information Hall of Fame.
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PEOPLE & PLACES
Laura Squires, APR, formerly of Witherspoon, has moved to Methodist Mansfield Medical Center as director of marketing, community relations and public relations. The new hospital will open in December. ...
GFW PRSA member Kristie Aylett, APR, has been named a senior practitioner by the Southern Public Relations Federation. Aylett owns The KARD Group, a PR firm based in south Mississippi. Prior to opening her consulting business, she led PR activities for the University of North Texas Health Science Center. She is an adjunct instructor at Tulane University, teaching classes in public relations at its Biloxi campus, and also is the PRSA national membership chair. ...
FW SPJ immediate past president Gayle Reaves-King, editor of the Fort Worth Weekly; SMU j-prof Craig Flournoy; and Dan Malone, formerly with the Weekly and now a journalism instructor at Tarleton State U. -- Pulitzer Prize winners, all -- have received the FOI Foundation of Texas' 2006 James Madison Award for their work with the FOIFT-sponsored Light of Day project. J-students statewide joined forces on Light of Day to learn how to use Texas' public information laws, with the 2004-05 theme focusing on campus crime and the Clery Act. Nineteen articles, five published in the Weekly, examined the failure of many Texas colleges to fully comply with Clery; the articles won first and second prizes in regional and statewide journalism competitions, including the SPJ chapter's First Amendment Awards. The stories prompted an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Education. The 2005-06 theme, law enforcement officers' use of force, has proved to be such an undertaking that it has been extended a year. It thus far has spurred three articles, two published in the Weekly and one in the North Texas Daily. The awards will be presented Friday, Sept. 8, at the John Henry Faulk Awards Luncheon at the Omni Austin Hotel Downtown. The luncheon is part of the 2006 Bernard and Audre Rapoport FOI State Conference, "Partners for Democracy: Working Together for Government Access." For info call 214-977-6658 or see foift.org.
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