Media should not have excess of censorship

With the changes that Americans will see in the near future, one area that demands intense scrutiny is the censorship of the media.

Reporters are being denied information regarding the massive government investigation into the recent terrorist attacks. There are also talks that too much information in the press and TV news channels such as CNN and MSNBC may hinder the upcoming military operations in the Middle East.

This is all fine.

Certainly the investigation and its effectiveness should not be hampered by press releases. The risk of warning terrorists of impending capture or providing them with details of the methods of the FBI or CIA investigators is not worth juicy footage and commentary on the eight o'clock news.

Even though the coverage of the Gulf War was remarkable, with live footage of actual bombing raids and incredible shots from inside cruise missiles homing in on unsuspecting targets, the images and information contained in these newscasts clued the enemy to all sorts of military information such as missile specifications and cruising formations of naval warships.

The public, however, must be weary of the amount of news media that we allow the government to censor. The press and media are the all-important watchdogs of society. The authors of the Constitution were very mindful of this as freedom of the press was written into the First Amendment.

In President Bush's powerful address to the nation last Thursday he announced our resolve to see this crisis through. "I ask you to uphold the values of America," Bush said to Congress.

The freedom of the press is one of these values. An unsleeping sentinel whose mission is to make sure the leadership of the people stays in the hands of the people. Allowing the government to have free reign over that sentinel takes the power out of the public's hands and turns our country into anything but a democracy.

Government censorship is most threatening when it becomes habitual, using the shadow of a crisis to extend the powers of the government beyond its constitutional limitations.

When the government is allowed too much control over the information that the public has access to, the freedoms that we enjoy as Americans are compromised.

And that will be when the Terrorists of September 11 congratulate each other on the success of their mission to destroy America.

n: Editorial Board: Keith Thomas, Erica Sagon, Tom McHenry, John Wakefield, Matt Poston, Shawn McGann.

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