Olson is a freelancer whose reporting on Watada has appeared on the
widely read Truthout.org website and has aired on the nationwide
public radio program “Making Contact.” (Full disclosure: I was a
founder of that program and served as an advisor.) For a number of years,
she has been doing the job of a journalist. Now, in its
dealings with her, the Pentagon is despicably trying to trample on the
First Amendment.
As the LA Times editorialized, “there is something especially
chilling about the U.S. military reaching beyond its traditional
authority to compel a non-military U.S. citizen engaged in
news-gathering to testify in a military court, simply to bolster a
court-martial case. ... Sustaining the military subpoena would set a
troubling precedent. It’s time for the Army to back off.”
But the Army hasn’t shown any sign of backing off — despite an
outcry from a widening range of eminent journalists, mainstream media
institutions and First Amendment groups.
“Trying to force a reporter to testify at a court-martial sends the
wrong signal to the media and the military,” said the president of the
Military Reporters and Editors organization, James W. Crawley. He
commented: “One of the hallmarks of American journalism, as
documented in the Bill of Rights and defended by our armed services, is a
clear separation of the press and the government. Using
journalists to help the military prosecute its case seems like a
serious breach of that wall.”
By sending subpoenas to Sarah Olson and to another journalist who has
reported on Watada (Gregg Kakesako of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin), the
Pentagon is trying to chip away at the proper role of news media.
Two officials of the PEN American Center, a venerable organization
that works to protect freedom of expression, put the issue well in a
recent letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates: “If Olson and
Kakesako respond to these subpoenas by testifying, they will
essentially be participating in the prosecution of their source.
Reporters should not serve as the investigative arm of the
government. Such a role compromises their objectivity and can have
chilling effects on the press.”
Writing for Editor & Publisher magazine, Sarah Olson summed up what
is at stake: “A member of the press should never be placed in the
position of aiding a government prosecution of political speech. This goes
against the grain of even the most basic understanding of the First
Amendment’s free press guarantees and the expectation of a
democracy that relies on a free flow of information and perspectives
without fear of censor or retribution.”
And Olson added: “You may ask: Do I want to be sent to prison by the
U.S. Army for not cooperating with their prosecution of Lieutenant Watada?
My answer: Absolutely not. You may also ask: Would I rather contribute to
the prosecution of a news source for sharing newsworthy perspectives on an
affair of national concern? That is the question I wholly object to having
before me in the first place.”
The Pentagon’s attack on journalism is an attack on the First
Amendment — and an attempt to drive a wedge between journalists and
dissenters in the military. Resistance is essential for democracy.
____________________________
Norman Solomon’s book “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep
Spinning Us to Death” is available in the
Atlantic Free Press Amazon Bookstore. For more information about
Pentagon moves against journalists, go to:
www.FreePressWG.org
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