Covering Security & LibertyIJJ: Security & Liberty Fellowships

Tim Porter, Nov. 7, 2004

1,000’s of Stories

What Is Journalism For?

• “The primary purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-governing.”

– The Elements of Journalism, Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel

The Elements of Journalism

• Journalism's first obligation is to the truth.

• Its first loyalty is to its citizens.

• Its essence is a discipline of verification.

• Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.

• It must serve as an independent monitor of power.

• It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.

• It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant.

• It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional.

• Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.

Obligation to the Truth

• Outsourcing the Pentagon

To find the answers, the Center began in early 2004 to investigate the patterns of Defense Department contracting. Our prime source was the Pentagon's own procurement databases—public information that had been posted for years on an obscure Defense Department Web site.

-- Larry Makinson, Center for Public Integrity, http://www.publicintegrity.org/pns/default.aspx

Obligation to the Truth

Obligation to the Truth

• “U.S. to Free Hamdi, Send Him Home”

– “Yaser Esam Hamdi, who was held in solitary confinement as an ‘enemy combatant’ for nearly three years and never charged with a crime, will be released from custody. … The U.S. military captured Hamdi with pro-Taliban forces in Afghanistan in 2001. He was sent to Guantanamo Bay. ... He has been held in military brigs ever since.”

• Washington Post, Sept. 23, 2004

Loyalty to the Citizens

Loyalty to the Citizens

Loyalty to the Citizens

• “The Constitution is not a ‘suicide pact’ … but not every sacrifice of freedom buys more security. … Yes, this is a war against terrorism. But more than that, it is a war in defense of liberty and the rule of law. If we surrender our freedom and our values out of fear, we are running up the white flag of defeat.”

– Editorial, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dec. 30, 2003

Pre-9/11

• Government restrictions on information began to increase even before Sept. 11, 2001

• Driver's Privacy Protection Act in 1994– Information released only for law enforcement and insurance

coverage

• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, April 2001

– Journalists who routinely called hospitals to get the status of a patient may be unable to get such information in the future.

-- Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Post-9/11

• Government restrictions after Sept. 11, 2001

– Patriot Act, 2001– Community Protection from Chemical Terrorism Act, 2002

• Restricts access to chemical plants’ risk management plans

– Department of Homeland Security, 2003• Legislation criminalizes leaks of unclassified “critical infrastructure

information” – being used to withhold information on dams, power plants, oil pipelines and structures

– Court closures• Federal courts are increasingly closing immigration law and

deportation hearings at the request of prosecutors

-- Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Access to Information Tightens

• Government shifts the burden of disseminating public information from itself to the press.

• Reporters told: You can have it, but we won’t help you get it.

• For example …

We Don’t Have No Stinking Lists!

Ask … But We Won’t Tell

“The Department of Homeland Security itself, meanwhile, is the most secretive of agencies in the most secretive of administrations. When a CJR intern asked for the exact number of terrorist warnings to the public since 2002, a p.r. person at the department, who declined to give her full name, said the information was ‘classified.’ ”

– “Imagining Evil, Homeland Security: What We Don’t Know Can Hurt Us”

– Columbia Journalism Review, Sept.-Oct., 2004

Confidentiality Threatened

• Anthrax Figure Wins a Round on News Sources

– “In a development that could undercut reporters' ability to obtain confidential information, Justice Department officials agreed Thursday to distribute to dozens of federal investigators in the 2001 anthrax case a document they can sign to release journalists from pledges of confidentiality.”

– New York Times, Oct. 21, 2004

Free Press Under Fire

• “The fundamental right of Americans, through our free press, to penetrate and criticize the workings of our government is under attack as never before.”

– William Safire, New York Times, Sept. 29, 2004

Stories Are Going Untold

• “The past two decades of journalism in the United States generated a collection of important stories that made significant changes to benefit the public interest. But reporting many of those stories would be difficult or impossible today because of greater restrictions on access to institutions, events and information.”

– Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, “Lost Stories”

Balancing Act

• Every story must take into account the “competing interests” of homeland security -- assessing threat vs. protecting liberties.

– David Boardman

Managing editor, Seattle Times

Security vs. LibertyHow Press Coverage Is Shaped

National security coverage is shaped by the “traditional journalistic fault lines.”

– Amanda Bennett, Editor, Philadelphia Inquirer

Journalistic Fault LinesWhat Does That Mean?

• Fault lines are the hard-wired pieces of the news business – structural, intellectual and emotional – that influence the quality of our work.

• For example …

Journalistic Fault Lines

• Expediency: Deadlines eventually arrive; we publish what’s done.

• Space: There’s only so much of it. We write to fit.• Need for Narrative: A story has to have tension; good

guys vs. bad guys make for better stories.• Fairness: On the one hand, on the other, on yet

another. Truths are not self-evident. They are “according to” and usually rebutted.

• Bad News: Let’s face it, if it’s broke we prefer it.• Status Quo: We are the establishment and, as such, will

only go so far in our reporting.

– Andrew Cline, Rhetorica.net

Big vs. Small Newspapers

Security & Liberty Coverage

• Headlines:

– Most stories are wire or syndicated, short, spot, institutional

– “Fairness” (he said, she said) dominates– Localization of national issues is almost non-

existent– Even larger papers (not Times, Post, Trib)

more likely to be reactive and routine rather than enterprising and exceptional

One Newspaper’s Coverage

• Dallas Morning News

– 145 mentions of Patriot Act in last two years

– Two local stories of substance:• Local libraries concerned about section 215;

B-1, 890 words, May 11, 2004• City Council condemns Patriot Act City, one

of the largest to pass decree; some say liberties threatened; B-1, 800 words, Feb. 26, 2004

– No indication of local enterprise

-- Based on Factiva search

… and Another’s

• Seattle Times– 148 mentions of Patriot Act in last two

years– Some local enterprise:

• Takeout on local town’s opposition to Patriot Act, 2,400 words, A-1, Aug. 10, 2003

• Student investigated for photographing local water facility

– Substantial space devoted to L.A. Times, Wash. Post stories on privacy vs. security, terrorism prosecutions

-- Based on Factiva search

Types of Coverage

• Spot news– Stories that just happened

• Beat reporting– Stories that were developed or encountered

while working in a subject area

• Enterprise– Stories that derived from our own initiative

Type of Coverage:Spot News

• Stories that just happened

– Most prevalent– Least perspective– Lack of opposing viewpoints– Reliant on press conferences or official

announcements

• However …

Spot Stories Can …

• Police open fire at anti-war protest, longshoremen injured

– “Police opened fire with wooden dowels, ‘sting balls’ and other non-lethal weapons at anti-war protesters outside the Port of Oakland, injuring at least a dozen demonstrators and six longshoremen standing nearby.”

-- Martha MendozaAssociated Press, April 8, 2003

… Lead to Follow-ups

• State monitored war protesters

– “Days before firing wooden slugs at anti-war protesters, Oakland police were warned of potential violence at the Port of Oakland by California's anti-terrorism intelligence center, which admits blurring the line between terrorism and political dissent.”

- Oakland Tribune, May 18, 2003

Beat Reporting:Pluses and Minuses

• Pluses– Localization of national

issues– Numerous takeouts

developed off beats– Application of broad

issues – such as immigration – to specific topics – such as foreign students

• Minuses– Mostly spot stories

reacting to official actions

– Repetitive background used as filler for many stories

– Epidemic of he-said-she-said-itis

Beat Reporting: Topics

• Stories developed or encountered while working a beat, such as:

– Local, regional or state government– Legal affairs– Education– Law enforcement– Immigration– Business– Science

One Beat Reporter’s Work

• Bob Egelko, Federal court reporter, S.F. Chronicle

– Bylines 2003-04: 650+– Nexis returns on:

• Patriot Act: 11

• Homeland security: 8

• Immigration: 43

• Criminal justice: 15

• Civil liberty: 103

Enterprise Off the Beat

• “Justices to rule on detention of immigrants”

– “The case arose before Sept. 11, 2001, and is not directly related to terrorism. But the ruling, due by the end of June,

could be crucial for the Bush administration's claim of broad authority to order detention without bail in immigration proceedings -- authority that has been used to hold more than 1,000 people, mostly for minor immigration violations, since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.”

-- San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 15, 2003, A-3

Enterprise Off the Beat

• “Congress uses scalpel to cut up Patriot Act”

– “In response to the worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil, Congress passed the greatest expansion of search and surveillance authority in the nation's history, with barely a

murmur of dissent. But less than two years later, the USA Patriot Act is under siege. More than a half-dozen bills to roll back portions of the law are pending in Congress.”

-- San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 10, 2003, A-1

One Beat Reporter’s Work

• Dan Eggen, Justice Department reporter, Washington Post

– Bylines 2003-04: 400+– Factiva returns on:

• Patriot Act: 28

• Homeland security: 25

• Immigration: 23

• Criminal Justice: 1

• Civil liberty: 22

Enterprise Off the Beat

• “FBI Applies New Rules to Surveillance”

– “Under the new guidelines, all counterterrorism cases are opened under the same classification number, 315, and are handled from the outset like an intelligence or espionage

investigation, officials said. The structure allows investigators to more easily use secret warrants and other methods that are overseen by the surveillance court and not available in traditional criminal probes, sources said.”

-- Washington Post, Dec. 13, 2003, A-1

Enterprise Reporting

• Stories derived from our own initiative

– True enterprise was rare– Mostly limited to the largest newspapers– More enterprise coverage in newspapers on

both coasts than those in the heartland

EnterpriseNew York Times: Terrorbusters Inc.

Oct. 16, 2004

EnterpriseWall Street Journal: Holding Pattern

June 3, 2003

• “Hunt for Terrorists Lands One Pilot In State of Limbo” – “… as the government assembles a bureaucracy for

handling alleged terrorist threats it is drawing fire for inadequate due-process protections. Big airline-pilots' and mechanics' unions have filed suit in federal court to strike down the TSA's threat-assessment system, arguing the agency's standards … encourage ‘arbitrary, inconsistent and discriminatory enforcement.’”

EnterpriseChicago Tribune: Tossed Out of America

Nov. 16, 2003

Enterprise:Sacramento Bee: Liberty in the Balance

Sept. 21, 2003

Topics:Homeland Security

• Issues– Anti-terrorism– Preparedness, airports, public buildings, structures

and spaces, ports– Intelligence gathering– Law enforcement– Technology– Funding– Money sent to first responders– Bureaucracy

Topics:Politics & Government

• Issues– Legislation– Funding– Partisan debate– Department of Homeland Security– Politics and culture of bureaucracies

Topics:Immigration

• Issues– Deportation– Asylum– Education enrollment– Scientific research

Topics:Criminal Justice

• Issues– Detainment– Ethnic profiling– Prosecution, secret warrants (Foreign

Intelligence Surveillance Court)– Legal affairs– Court system

Topics:Civil Liberties

• Issues– Privacy

• Libraries, Internet use

– Ethnic profiling– Religion– Open government

• Freedom of information

– Critical infrastructure• Access to information

– Environmental

One Newspaper’s Coverage:Newark Star-Ledger

• Archive search: 01/01/03 – 07/31/04– 58 stories; 12 on Page 1– Topics:

• Security – 17: National, regional and local issues• Immigration – 3: Deportations• Newark airport – 13: Security issues, TSA hiring, luggage

searches• Newark port – 3: Cost issues, security of containers• Civil liberty – 10: Concerns about Patriot Act, librarians• Funding issues – 4: Cost to local entities of security upgrades• Cops & Courts – 8: Missile buyer arrested; court rulings on

detainees

Are We Succeeding at This?

• “The primary purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-governing.”

– The Elements of Journalism,

Bill Kovach, Tom Rosenstiel

What’s at Stake: Our Values

“… in the face of devastating terrorist attacks, ‘the government may be justified in taking measures which in less troubled conditions could be seen as infringements of individual liberties.’ ”

– John Yoo, former Justice Department lawyer and architect of the legal argument establishing military tribunals

-- Tim Golden, New York Times, “Tough Justice,” Oct. 24, 2004

The Lesser Evil

• “When democracies fight terrorism, they are defending the proposition that their political life should be free of violence. But defeating terror requires violence. It may also require coercion, secrecy, deception, even violation of rights. How can democracies resort to these means without destroying the values for which they stand? How can they resort to the lesser evil without succumbing to the greater?”

– Michael IgnatieffDirector, Carr Center, Kennedy School of Government

New York Times Magazine, May 2, 2004

Covering Security

• Another way to think about it …

– Define the Homeland Security beat by the questions journalists should ask on behalf of the public

– What are those questions?

Covering Security

• Questions that can be asked

– What is the status of consolidating the terrorist watch lists? Who has access to them right now?

– How long would it take to inoculate a community in the event of a smallpox attack?

– Does your community have a plan in the event of a terrorist attack?

– Have local responders gotten federal anti-terrorism grants? How have they spent the money?

– What has been done to ensure local ports are secure against smuggling of weapons of mass destruction?

– Nieman Watchdog Project

Competing Interests:Liberty & Security

• Homeland security questions for political candidates:

– Do you support issuing a national identity card to every American?

– Do you feel the police in your community are equipped to deal with a terrorist incident?

– Would you be willing to spend more money on security at the expense of schools and local priorities?

-- Nieman Watchdog Project

Competing Interests:Liberty & Security

• Homeland security questions for the Business beat:

– Have corporate executives been given special training in the event of a kidnapping?

– Has the company installed special firewalls to prevent a cyber attack?

– Has the company been working with private security firms to tighten security?

-- Nieman Watchdog Project

Competing Interests:Liberty & Security

• Homeland security questions for Science and Technology reporters:

– Are new immigration policies affecting business or medical research?

– Are security measures preventing the import of foreign research into the U.S.?

– How is science being used for anti-terrorism measures – or for anti-privacy measures?

Did We Do All We Could?

Thanks to … • Jim Willse, Newark Star-Ledger• M.J. Crowley, Newark Star-Ledger• Amy Goldstein, Washington Post• Eric Newton, Knight Foundation• Reporters Committee for Freedom

of the Press• Brant Houston, IRE• Doug Clifton, Cleveland Plain

Dealer• Amanda Bennett, Philadelphia

Inquirer• David Boardman, Seattle Times• Jack Fuller, Chicago Tribune• Andrew Cline, Rhetorica.net

• Martha Mendoza, Associated Press

• Nieman Watchdog Project• Sharon Rosenhause, Fort

Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel• Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee• Judy Canter, San Francisco

Chronicle• Sharon Crenson• Lara Clark, American Library

Association• Rick Blum, Open the Government• Stella Richardson, ACLU,

Northern California

… and, of course, Steve Montiel and Marc Cooper